


Desolation

by Vira999



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Original Character(s), Pokemon, Pokemon Journey, Pokemon Trainers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24979939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vira999/pseuds/Vira999
Summary: Ever since her sister kidnapped her, eleven-year-old Vi has lived in a forest with no human contact. She dreams of becoming a trainer, but when a disaster pulls her into a quest she doesn't even understand, she must find the strength within herself to keep going- especially since it's not just her life on the line.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

The Poliwag splashed in the shallows of the lake, unaware of the predator watching them.

I laid on my belly in the reeds, water lapping at my chin as I pressed my lips together. My nose twitched as a reed brushed my face, but I didn't dare laugh, or the Poliwag would swim away. My extensive field research had proven they were sensitive to sound and could out-swim me in seconds, but I learn from my mistakes. Every failure was just a stepping stone on my path to victory.

Eight Poliwag were out today, each just bigger than my hand, their feet still stumps and their tails long. They couldn't be more than a month old, hatched in late spring, long after the Poliwhirl had left their broods for downstream waters. Only a week ago there had been half-a-dozen more, but Poliwag were prey of the more carnivorous Pokémon like Pidgeotto and Ekans, and by the end of the season only a few Poliwag would be left- the strongest.

I couldn't wait that long. I had already waited long enough.

My hand tightened on my net, hidden in the water, and I was silent as an Ariados as the Poliwag frolicked. Every time one ventured from the group, it wasn't near me and it quickly returned to safety in numbers, but I was patient.

Eventually, as my hands and feet wrinkled and I began thinking of dinner, a Poliwag swam towards me. Its tail made ripples as it swished back and forth, its black eyes large and bright, and its mouth open to any plankton or tiny creatures that it could feed on. My heart beat faster and it took all my strength not to fidget or jump out. Just a little closer…

The Poliwag stopped five feet away, tail pausing as it surveyed the waters and the reeds surrounding the river. My toes touched the soft earth of the waterbed, and I breathed deep-

A guttural cry cut through the air, and I leapt up, water surging around me as I threw the net. The Poliwag leapt away in a feat bred into it by generations, the net glancing past its tail.

The net slammed into empty water, the Poliwag just behind its brethren as they submerged deep into the heart of the lake.

Gone.

I heaved for air, eyes going from the net to the rippling water where my prey had been, before I whirled at Hunter.

"You!" I shouted, waving my hands. "Get out of here!"

The Shiftry glared at me from his perch in the tree, unmoved and unamused.

"I nearly had it! It was right here!" I jabbed a finger at the net. "It was going to be mine. Why do you have to ruin everything?"

Hunter didn't reply. He only obeyed my sister, and even then I was sure blackmail was involved. In his off-time, he had taken to stalking me to make sure I had no fun or did anything I wanted to do.

I stomped over to the net, each splash adding to my frustration, and stepping back onto dry land was just another failure for the books.

 _A step to victory_ , I told myself. _Next time I'll get a Pokemon_.

I shook the water off, putting back on my shirt and breathing in when I pulled on my shorts. They were getting too small, had been for a while, but my sister hadn't made the trip into town yet for new clothes. This time I would have to go with her though, because she always brought back clothes that looked stupid or didn't fit me. But it couldn't be soon, because arguing with Kat needed _strategy_. It'd take weeks to convince her, but it'd be worth it.

I put the net back into my backpack and threw it over my shoulder with the non-broken strap. Lastly, I picked up my egg. The scales rubbed against my palm, shining red where I brushed water over it, but it made no sounds. I had carried it for over a year, but Kat said dragon-types took a long time to hatch.

A week ago, I turned eleven years old. At this rate, I'd be a trainer by the time I was thirty.

Hunter followed me as I took the path from the lake to back home, but I resolutely ignored him, instead keeping an eye out for catchable Pokemon. Without Poke Balls or my sister's help, I would have to catch one the old fashioned way, but that limited me to Pokemon that couldn't fight back. Pidgey fluttered from branch to branch, too high up, same with the Metapod stuck tight to trees, nearly invisible in their green shell. I only decided to catch a Pokemon this month, so I missed the chance to nab a Caterpie in early spring. Probably for the best; I wanted a cool Pokemon.

Trees stretched out before me, tall and strong, and only the brightest rays of the sun breaking through the canopy. But summer hung in the air, a miasma of heat that dried the water off my skin and kept the day long. It must have been near dinner, but I had no trouble seeing, and barely looked where I was going. I had walked the trail so many times, it was like each indent in the earth was made just for me, and branches brushed the top of my head, like spears blocking anyone else from following.

Except Hunter. But I chose not to think of him.

"I'm back!" I shouted as I came up to our tree. Kat poked her head from the Fort, looking down.

"Did you have fun?"

"Hunter keeps bothering me!"

I grabbed the wooden steps of the ladder and pulled myself up as Kat's admonishments of Hunter drifted down to me. When we first came here, it took ten minutes to reach the top, but now I could have been a Chimchar with the way I scrambled up. Patches of sunlight broke through the tree cover, the sky's blue deepening with pink edging on the horizon.

Towering Forest stretched out underneath me and to the north and east until it reached the island's edge, terminating into ocean. On such a nice day I saw the peaks of distant islands, so out of reach, and beyond them a hint of a mountain. When I reached the top of the ladder, I looked south towards the river for any Pokemon, following the river to where it disappeared behind a small cliff. Whatever Pokemon that lived there remained hidden since I wasn't allowed to go there, but I squinted all the same.

Nothing, of course.

But not for much longer. This high up, I felt like a queen or a legendary surveying my domain, but since we came here two years ago, that's what we were.

Towering Forest belonged to us.

"He scared away the Pokemon!" I told Kat when she pulled away from the window. Hunter, of course, had gone to do whatever he did when he wasn't ruining everything.

"He's just protective," Kat said, taking her Pokemon's side as always. At seventeen, her head nearly touched the ceiling of their Fort, her dark hair pulled tightly back in a ponytail. The sleeveless yellow dress didn't suit her, but as the days grew warmer that was all she wore, and it was patched and stained in place. Far cry from the cool sister I watched in the Johto Pokemon Tournament years ago, through the television; Kat had sent us invitations to come in person, but Dad refused.

"These were Poliwag!" I sat down, brushing the dirt from my feet. "They were _babies_."

"Yeah, speaking of, you forgot something."

In front of me, a pair of runners clattered onto the wood, beat up and abandoned. I looked up at Kat and smoothly crossed my legs, hiding my dirty feet.

"I was swimming," I said.

"Were you swimming your way down the tree?"

"I don't need them."

"You'll get diseases if you walk with bare feet," Kat said. "Wear your shoes."

"I've walked in bare feet for years! I've never gotten a disease."

Kat had a pained look, and I hoped it was painful.

"You should still wear them," she insisted. "Everyone wears shoes."

"But there's no one else here. It's just us."

"I know, but you still should. Please, Vi? _Please_?"

"Fine," I said, with no intention of following through. My sister sometimes got like this. Last time was because I took off my shirt and shorts outside the Fort, but who cared what other people thought? I haven't seen another person in two years, and even back in Pallet Town it was so stupid that boys could take off their shirts and girls couldn't.

I tossed the shoes and backpack near our blankets, as Kat knelt near the cooking pot. Arthur's finger spun, the spoon following his movements before Kat took over and tasted it. "Not bad," she said. "Arthur, have you seen-"

Without looking up from his book, Arthur floated the nanab berries to her, and I leaned back against the wall with the egg in my lap.

It wasn't big, our Fort, just one room that could hold the three of us, but whoever owned it before made it nice. Built-in shelves, drapes, and a whole window were three of the luxuries left for us, and never was I more grateful like now when a breeze crossed through the window to the door. I leaned into the cool air, and it was definitely worth one thousand annoying wild Pokemon. This high up kept us away from the poisonous Pokemon living close to the ground, leaving only Spearow, Fearow, and Persian to really bother us. Arthur or Hunter took care of them, though I looked out the window, still with the faint hope of befriending a lonely Spearow one day.

 _Water-types aren't working_. They couldn't hurt me or chase me past the shore, but I couldn't follow them either. The problem with land Pokemon were they _could_ hurt me. Back in Pallet, Nidoran were good starter Pokemon, but it's not like we had a hospital if we got poisoned accidently. Last year, Kat got on the wrong side of a Nidoking, and I could only hold her hand while Arthur made Pecha Stew. Even then, it took weeks for her to recover; berries didn't work on humans like Pokemon.

"It's ready," Kat called to me, and we sat across from each other over our little table, Arthur declining food with a shake of his wizened head.

"You have to eat, Arthur," I told him. "You helped cook."

"Let him read," Kat said as Arthur went back to his book. I didn't often see him at dinner these days; he had mastered teleportation to the point I was sure he was having global adventures while I was stuck in a treehouse. "He'll eat when he wants to eat."

 _But he never hunts_ , I said to myself, knowing the Alakazam would hear it. _He should eat. It'll make me really happy if he eats._

An empty bowl and spoon levitated from a shelf, scooping up a bit of stew before flying over to Arthur.

Smugly, I ate my dinner, the stew thin but sweet and perfect after a hard day. When we finished, Kat put the leftovers in the ice box and sealed it back up, while I retreated to the blankets. Having eaten, my shorts felt even tighter, and my strategy of patience and perseverance in the face of all obstacles died a quick death. I was sure I was going to follow if I didn't do something now.

When Kat pulled out the boardgames for the evening pastime, Arthur declining any and all invitations to play, I saw my opportunity.

"You're not having a good day," Kat said after twenty minutes, grinning, moving her trainer token three squares. "That's fourth gym badge for me."

 _Yes, keep thinking that_ …

After an hour, when Kat was good and relaxed, full with victory, I casually leaned back and said, "My shorts are getting small. I think I need new ones."

"You have a lot of dresses," Kat replied, fanning herself with her cards as she glanced over the board. "They'll be much cooler."

"But I like shorts and I don't like those dresses. I can explore better in shorts."

"Is that your argument?"

I opened my mouth and saw Kat looking at me, amused.

"Out with it," she said. "What do you want?"

"Shorts! … And shorts I can choose for myself."

Kat didn't reply immediately, but the smile went away. Still, it was farther than I had ever gotten, so I continued:

"I'm eleven. I'm older than when you left home and got your first Pokemon. You went into the wild all alone and you got eight gym badges. I think I'm old enough to go with you to get clothes."

I vibrated as I watched her anxiously.

"I didn't go into the wild," Kat finally said. "Everything's pretty controlled and safe for new trainers. It's only on TV shows where new trainers are all alone. Look, Vi-"

"I promise I'll stay within five inches of you! I won't say anything, I won't do anything, I'll hold your hand. I'll hold _Hunter's_ hand. Kat- I just want something more than a forest! Come on. Please? We're just getting shorts. You said you don't fight anything out there. So what's the problem? I'm old enough."

Kat laid down her cards.

"This isn't Route One. I have to be really careful and really fast outside the forest, and I know you'll be careful too, but it'd distract me and that's dangerous."

"But you're such a strong trainer-"

"I wouldn't say so," she said. "I only have two Pokemon now, and _don't_ say Arthur will protect us. Arthur isn't invincible and he shouldn't have to risk his life."

"Sora-"

"Sora's not my Pokemon anymore. She'll fly me places, but she lives with her flock now. I can't take her away from that."

"Then when?" Tears sprang up in my eyes, and my voice wavered. "I'm just waiting here forever to do something. You won't even let me have a Pokemon. The egg is never going to hatch. I just want to do something."

Kat moved closer and pulled me into a hug.

"I know," she said into my hair. "I know it's hard. It's hard for both of us. But it'll get better. You have the egg, and you will get a Pokemon. It won't be that long. I promise."

"When?" My hands curled around her dress.

She was silent for a long moment. "How about the end of summer?" she said. "If your egg doesn't hatch by then, I'll help you catch a Pokemon. The Squirtle at the beach will have been born by then, and if not, I'm sure I can find you something else. Then… then we'll go from there, okay?"

I nodded, unable to speak, and eventually when my tears dried, Kat pulled back. It felt so stupid to cry, but all that mattered was my sister was here. I wasn't alone.

"I want to go home," I whispered.

"Me too," Katarina said. "… Me too."

That night, Kat slept beside me as I tossed and turned, unable to follow her. My stomach knotted, and I kept opening my eyes, looking at the sliver of night that shot through the drapes over the window. Arthur slept in the corner, upright, but his mind never truly went to sleep. Yet, it might as well have been, since he didn't stir when I sat up. Even late at night, the heat pressed against my bare skin, all the blankets except the ones we slept on put away on the shelf.

It had been warm that night too when my sister came to get me.

Growing up, my sister and I had never been close. One of my early memories was at four-years-old, waving on the doorstep to Kat as she left for her journey. After that, I got to know her through the TV, watching each of her gym battles, as my parents' phone calls with her got less and less common. Sometimes she would stop by, and I'd play with her Pokemon, at five, six, then seven- then never again, after the fight.

What did the short visits mean to me? The brief phone calls talking about nothing? The few letters I got, mailed to John's house, whose mother pressed them into my hand?

They didn't matter, not until I woke up one night with my sister standing over me.

"We have to go," she whispered to me. "I want to show you something."

So I left, and now two years on I can't remember what I was feeling. I was happy, wasn't I? Going on an adventure, after Mom and Dad kept talking about not letting me do the gym challenge. It must have been fun to dress in secret and climb out my window to Sora waiting in the yard.

I remember Pallet Town laid out under me and Sora's great wings, Kat's arm around my shoulders. Lights flickered like stars, getting smaller and smaller as clouds whipped under us until it was all gone.

I remember the ash, and clinging to my sister in those endless weeks as we hid in a cave, Arthur keeping me company whenever Kat left. I asked questions but never got answers.

I remember falling asleep then waking up as we approached the Towering Forest in the region of Vaeli, a place I had never heard of and still didn't really know.

I remember months of screaming and crying to go home, for Kat to let me go, so much so my face warmed at the memory.

I remember Kat saying,

"Home's gone. They're all dead. All we have left is each other."

 _I never got to say goodbye_. It didn't hurt as much anymore, which was good. Sometimes I missed going to school, and my friends, but now their faces blurred. The world was Kat, her Pokemon, and the forest.

And one day, a Pokemon of my own.

I found the egg at my bedside and picked it up. The shadows darkened the red to near black, the scales glimmering by night. It had to be native to Vaeli because I didn't know any red dragon-types but legendries, and Kat wouldn't say what it was. Just that I would find out.

I looked at Kat and Arthur to make sure they were sleeping before pressing my lips to the shell.

" _Crim_. That's your name."

It seemed to warm under my palms, but maybe it was my imagination. Still, I smiled and placed it beside me as I laid back down. Kat's breathing was slow and steady, the summer air warm, and soon I fell into a dreamless sleep.

I would remember this night for a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning dawned crisp and cool, and I yawned as I pulled on my shirt and shorts. After washing my face in the basin, I nearly tripped over Kat while heading to the door.

“You’re in the way,” I told her, and her pushups remained swift and smooth.

“I’m exercising. Do you have your shoes on?”

“ _Yes_.” I held my foot towards my face, waving it. “Look, see?”

Kat made a face. “Okay, I get it. I’m just checking.”

“I won’t forget.”

Her voice followed me to the ladder and down.

“You always forget! Be careful, and don’t go past the river!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, feeling Arthur watching me with his psychic powers until my feet hit the ground. I adjusted my bag, Crim safely inside, and considered which direction to go. Kat said she would help me get a Pokemon at the end of the summer, but it wasn’t even July yet. And if she couldn’t choose good clothes for me, how could she choose a Pokemon?

 _She’ll get me a Caterpie and never let me evolve it_.

So I turned back towards the river. Faint mist hung low over the earth, parting and swirling around my feet, and I hummed the theme to my favorite cartoon. Tangela ran out of my way, too quick to grab, and Pidgey cawed overhead, branches rustling. One swooped down ahead of me, throwing up mist, then pushed itself back up into the air, a Dedenne clutched in its talons. I frowned at where it disappeared. It had good eyesight.

Huh.

If I could make a decoy Dedenne and lure a good Pokemon to it…

By the time I got to the river, my interest in its inhabitants had vanished. Poliwag were bad Pokemon anyways. A Meowth though…

Back in Pallet, I would never consider it, but the Persian here were _fierce_. Whenever Arthur wasn’t around, a Persian always sat outside our Fort, lured by the smell of our food stores, yellow eyes unblinking. They were so hard to scare away, and if anything would ever eat us here, it’d be a Persian.

So cool.

_“And introducing a trainer from the mysterious region of Vaeli, Vivian Carter!” the announcer said as I came into the arena, my Persian at my side. “I haven’t seen someone use a Persian in the Kanto Pokemon Tournament in a long time. These two will really be up against the odds!”_

_As my opponent’s Charizard hits the ground, unmoving, my Persian stalking back to me with his head held high, the announcer cried:_

_“She does it again! Vivian Carter beats her last opponent. From isolation in the wilderness all the way to champion! How did she and her Persian do it?”_

_“My Persian and I have a unique bond,” I later told the reporters. Lights flashed, but I was calm behind the podium. My Persian sat at my side, huge and strong, and my sister and Arthur watched from the sidelines, impressed and proud. “I didn’t have a Poke Ball, so I caught and trained my Persian without the things normal trainers have. I had to work twice as hard, and this created a_ real _relationship with my Pokemon that so many other trainers don’t have. It’s made us stronger, and together we travelled the Vaeli region all alone before coming back to Kanto. We’re just really special-”_

A splash broke me out of my daydream, and the Seaking submerged just as fast as it broke the surface. I sat back on the shore of the river, and reluctantly pushed away my imagination.

I could celebrate later, I had Pokemon to catch. But how could I make a fake Dedenne?

I then amended my statement.

How could I create a fake Dedenne without Hunter ruining everything?

I got as far as deciding to use the clumps of fur sometimes left by other Pokemon before a glare passed over my eyes and I blinked.

I looked up.

A cloud soared through the sky, its wings slicing through the air in an uninterrupted glide. The wings tinged blue, almost see-through, and ten times larger than the cloud, bigger wings than I had ever seen on a Pokemon. I found myself standing up, craning my neck, the cloud disappeared over the treetops, towards the Fort.

I picked up my bag and ran.

Branches and leaves scraped my arms and head, and I stumbled on a tree root, catching myself and running faster. As the ladder came into view, I yelled, “Kat!”

She appeared over the side, and I pointed at the sky.

“There’s a bird! A Pokemon! Like a cloud!”

For a moment, silence. Then:

“Vi, get up here!”

When I made it to the top, Kat pushed me against the wall, out of sight of the window and door. Hunter appeared at the window, and with barely a word, disappeared again into the trees.

“Are they coming here?” Kat asked Arthur, and he waved his heads. “You don’t know?”

She looked at me again.

“Was it black? Like a vulture or a crow?”

“No. White, like a cloud.” I hugged my bag, Crim, against my chest. “What is it? Is it bad?”

To my horror, Kat took the carving knife from the shelf, and placed it on the floor, throwing a blanket over it, like it was supposed to be there.

“Arthur can’t see it and didn’t know it was coming, so it’s a dark-type. I don’t know any cloud-looking Pokemon like that. So there’s a dark-type on board.”

“A trainer?” I whispered.

“We’ll see if anyone comes.” My sister looked at me. “If they do, don’t say anything. I’ll do the talking. And put the bag on the ground. Keep the egg in it. They might be a thief.”

My hands shook as I put the bag down, putting a blanket over it, but it looked so fake, like I was hiding something for sure, so I left the bag in the open. As minutes ticked by, I tried to stay still and casual, like I didn’t care, but my heart raced and I breathed so loudly Kat looked over.

“Be quiet,” she told me. “It’ll be okay. We’ll protect you.”

 _But who’s going to protect you_! I wanted to scream, but a voice cut through the air.

“ _Hey_! Anyone there?”

Arthur raised a hand towards Kat as she walked to the door and braced her hand against the wall.

“What do you want?” she yelled down. I desperately wanted to see, but I couldn’t move, my legs locked in place.

“We just want to talk!” The voice was a girl’s with an accent I couldn’t place. “Are you Katarina Carter? We got your name from Silvia!”

Kat’s mouth parted, and she hesitated before replying, “Who are you?”

“Travelers, from Saffron! We’re looking for information! Can we talk to you?”

“Don’t!” I whispered to Kat, so low I could barely hear it. “Don’t do it.”

She didn’t look at me.

“What are you offering?” she shouted back. “I don’t work for free!”

“We have medicine, TMs, and other items!”

“Then you can come up! But leave all your Pokemon on the ground. I’ll know if you don’t, and you’ll regret it!”

Kat pulled back, saying to Arthur. “Tell me when you can feel them. If they try to bring Pokemon up, throw them off the ladder.” Then she grabbed me by the shoulder and met my eyes. “Remember what I said. Don’t say anything.”

I nodded, anxiety pulling at my throat as I heard the ladder squeak. Arthur nodded at Kat, and she relaxed just a little, her feet still beside the carving knife.

A dark head appeared over the edge, and the girl laughed as her head pressed against the ceiling. “That’s low.” She looked older than my sister, well-built with black skin, and wore a vest and pants. A belt encircled her waist with pouches, half-covered by a hanging black and gold scarf. Her green eyes passed over the Fort, me, and my sister with a cat’s easy confidence before finding Arthur. Something flashed.

Then she turned and helped up the other girl.

 _She looks like a movie star_. Her clothes were stylish in blues and grays, cut for the weather, her gold hair pulled up in a practical ponytail. The side of her fair face looked both young and old, and a smile broke across it when she looked at Kat with not an eye or interest in anything else.

“Hello,” she said, voice light and with no accent. “I’m sorry we’re intruding.”

“Who are you?” Kat said, crossing her arms. Arthur watched them with slits for eyes.

“I’m Jade.” She motioned to the taller girl. “This is Ira. It took a while to track you down, but Silvia said you would be here.”

I hadn’t heard about Kat’s friend for a long time, and I wanted to hear more, but Kat only said:

“What sort of information are you looking for?”

“History. I want to know what happened in Johto.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific. You can’t be here for _scandal_.”

Jade inclined her head, and when I saw the other side of her face, I nearly gasped. Silvery scars ran down her left cheek, catching her lip and twisted the edge down.

“I’m not. I want to hear what happened with Frederick Soma.”

Kat stiffened, shifting her weight to her other leg as silence grew, but neither Jade or Ira filled it, just waiting. It lingered.

“Is it just you here?” Kat said. “No one else?”

“Yes.”

Kat turned to me. “Go to the river and stay there.”

 _What_? The fear still left me cold, but curiosity bled into it, and I didn’t want to be scared _and_ not know anything.

“But-”

“Go!”

The glare pushed me out of position, and I didn’t want Arthur to float me down to the ground like a child. Yet my teeth grit as I swung my body over the ladder and down. My ears pricked for voices to start again, but even when I reached the earth, I couldn’t hear anything.

 _That’s not fair_!

I stomped towards the river and just when I knew I’d be out of view, I cut through the bushes and circled around back to the Fort. I knelt just below the window, tiling my ear up and closing my eyes. Voices drifted down, indistinct and blending together, and I held my breath.

“- _where is_ -”

“- _not_ -”

“- _I don’t_ -”

“- _the token_ -”

They quieted to a murmur, words picking up now and again as my knees throbbed from my position. I couldn’t tell who was saying what.

“- _gone_ -”

“- _won_ -”

“- _are you sure_ -”

Leaves rustled next to me, and I inhaled, just swallowing the shriek. Hunter looked at me from a branch overhead.

“No!” I whispered at him. In a moment, he was scaling back up to the Fort, to tell on me like a snitch, and I quickly backed away from the tree. He followed me back towards the river, and every time I turned around to go back, he was there. Not even a casual circle away from the river and the Fort satisfied him, and after ten minutes, I balled my fists.

“You’re the _worst_!”

He disappeared back into the treetops, but I knew he was watching.

With nothing else to do, I continued on to the river.

 _I’m going to catch a Gyarados and then he’ll be sorry_.

But as I stepped onto the shoreline, the cloud Pokemon turned its head. Laying down, it could have been a Pokemon sitting in a cloud of white feathers, but it stood up upon seeing me, chirping. A white harness hung down from its head and long blue neck, the straps from an identical saddle wrapped around its cloudy body. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t recall its name.

“Hi!” I breathed, and it came over, bumping its head into my chest. It was much taller than me, but as I rubbed my hands into its neck, I nearly bowed it over. “You’re so light. Hi! What are you?”

It chirped again, and I was in love for a solid five minutes.

Eventually:

“Hello, there.”

I turned, and the bird whipped past me, wings flapping as it headbutted Jade and circled her. She laughed, her scar pulling her lip down into a half-smile, and she rubbed its neck.

“You’re having a good time!”

“What Pokemon is it?” I said, barely noticing Ira and also barely noticing my sister wasn’t with them. “It’s really nice!”

“This is an Altaria,” Jade replied, leading it by the harness to me. “Her name is Seraph. She’s from Hoenn.”

I gave Seraph another pet, but with her trainer there, she leaned into Jade, almost melting into her.

“What type is she?”

“Dragon and flying.”

Oh! If Jade knew dragons, maybe she knew what my egg was? I opened my mouth, but was interrupted.

“We’re losing daylight,” Ira said to Jade, who straightened.

“Right. Seraph, Fly.”

Seraph outstretched her wings, blue energy growing from the ends until one tip reached the river. A matching tail spread behind her, the saddle suddenly looking very small on her back. Jade jumped onto Seraph and strapped herself in the saddle.

Ira glanced at the forest, then at me. She didn’t say anything, but I didn’t like the look in her eyes. As Ira got onto Seraph’s back behind Jade, the first other people I had seen in two years, thousands of questions pressed into my head and I blurted out the first one.

“Are there more people out there, like in cities?”

Jade looked at me quizzically.

“The world hasn’t ended,” she said, and something passed over her face, her scars deepening. Her lips pressed together. “I’m going to make sure of that.”

Seraph flapped her wings with barely a gust and within moments they were dots in the sky, heading south towards the beach.

I stood there for a long while before leaving. The second I stepped back into the forest, Hunter was there, energy cracking along a blade of leaves. It remained out as he followed me back to the Fort and as I climbed the ladder.

“They’re gone,” I told Kat, who grunted. The blanket was off the floor, but the knife remained in the open on the shelf. Arthur waved his hands, eyes closed, a pink glow surrounding him. I sat down on my bed, not sure what else to say, so I took Crim from my bag, checking it to make sure it was alright.

When the pink glow faded, Kat said, “Anything?”

Arthur shook his head.

“Well, they better not be back.”

“What were you talking about?” I asked.

“Just something that happened.”

“What happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

The stubborn bent of Kat’s head made me change tactics.

“Do they know Silvia?”

“They talked to her.”

“So were they at Blackthorn City? You said Silvia went there… after, you know.”

“I don’t know where they’ve been, and I don’t care. I haven’t talked to Silvia in years.”

 _But she knew we were here_. It was so hard to remember there was a world outside of our forest. Back in the cave, when we first left Pallet, and a little while after when we reached Vaeli, Kat talked about her friends. _The Johto Six_ , the papers called them, even though Kat and John were from Kanto. Sometimes, when I was crying, she would say we would eventually leave the forest and join her friends, but after a couple months, that stopped. A lot of things stopped.

“You can tell me!” I insisted, and she shook her head.

“There’s nothing to tell. Here, look what I got.”

On the table, she showed me cases of Pokemon medicine, and bandages and antibiotics. As well as two discs.

“Thunder and Psyshock,” she told me. “The Thunder is probably bad. It’s the old type, so it’s one-use and probably, uh, glitchy. The Psyshock is real. This would cost a lot in the store. Do you want this at all, Arthur?”

He shook his head, whiskers swaying, the pink glow starting again. _He better not be overworking himself_ , I thought loudly, but he didn’t seem to hear.

“Why’d you take them, then?” I asked.

“Could be useful.” She put the medicine and TMs in a bag that must have come with them. “I’ll put them with the rest.”

“Can I come? When you go to the vault?”

“Not this time. Actually-” she hesitated. “For the next few days, you should stay here.”

“In the Fort? Why?”

“I don’t know if they’re going to come back.”

“But-” I had plans! “They seemed nice.”

“How a person speaks or looks doesn’t matter.” Kat shook her head. “It’s what they _do_. You don’t know them.”

My fingers tightened on my egg. _Jade let me pet her Altaria_ …

“Are they bad people?”

Kat didn’t look at me as she put the bag onto the shelf.

“Everyone’s bad.”

“Is that why we don’t live in a city?”

“Cities have too many people. We’re safer here.”

“From what?” My voice raised. “Nothing’s happened since-”

Kat slammed the shelf shut.

“It could and it still is.” She breathed hard. “Let’s not talk about this okay?”

I looked down at my egg and the hands holding it. Dirt covered my fingers and underneath my nails, spreading up my arms and to my face and legs. My shorts were tight around my waist, even though I took the drawstring out and wrapped it around my wrist as a bracelet. Patches littered my shirt, small holes in places Kat hadn’t sewn together yet, not since she ran out of thread. I raised my head.

The Fort was smaller than my old bedroom. No table or chairs, just shelves, a pot, and blankets on the floor for a bed. No glass or doors. In winter, Kat and I curled together, Hunter and Arthur always in their Poke Balls. Sometimes I missed breakfast or dinner; sometimes we were unlucky. Those days Kat skipped exercising because she didn’t feel like it, but she got thinner anyways. My stomach didn’t hurt so much at night anymore because that was normal, and Kat said I was so strong.

My stomach hurt now.

Jade and Ira didn’t look hungry, or dirty, or sad. They didn’t look like they had to hide or even knew that they should. They had Pokemon, and clean clothes, and they gave us medicine just for information.

 _They’re the strong ones_ , I realized.

“I don’t like this.”

My voice came out a whisper and Kat jumped like I had shouted.

“We’ll be alright,” she said. “Just stay in for a few days. We’ll play games. Arthur will play too. Right, Arthur?”

Still gazing upon the future, he didn’t answer, and I didn’t care.

“We’re never going to leave, are we?” I said to her. “We’ll be here forever. Nothing’s going to change.”

“Just be patient-”

“I’m always patient!” For months, for years- “I hate it here! You’re the one keeping me here! You’re the problem! I’d be better off on my own!”

And just like that, her expression closed, like a door slamming. I breathed hard, but she just looked at me, her fingers curled.

Finally, she spoke.

“I’m keeping you alive. You don’t get it. You _never_ get it. This is why I don’t take you anywhere. This isn’t a game.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I gestured to the door. “You won’t let me do anything! You won’t teach me anything!”

“We just talked about this-”

“Then teach me something!”

“That’s not what we’re here to do-”

“ _Then why are we here for_?”

Silence.

Then Kat turned away.

“Just go to bed. I don’t want to talk about it.”

So we didn’t. For a whole two days, I didn’t say a word to her. Anger left me hot, and being stuck at the Fort, in the heat and with her, only made it worse. A couple of times she tried to speak to me, but I ignored her. She deserved it. Forget end of summer, this wouldn’t ever end. She’d just keep me here until I died an old woman.

On the third day, the flapping of wings startled me before a head poked through the window.

“Sora!”

The Pidgeot trilled as I threw my arms around her neck. She was too big to fit more than her neck through the window, but it was ample space to press her beak into my hair, mussing it.

“She won’t be here for too long,” Kat said behind me.

“I didn’t ask,” I replied hauntingly, letting go. With me in the same room, Kat barely said anything to Sora but to patrol, and from the window I watched Sora fly back to her flock across the river. After that, sometimes I spotted her flying overhead, flanked by members of her flock, though none of them ever stopped to visit.

If I had a Pidgeot, I could go anywhere, and for the first time in a long time, I wondered whether Pallet Town still stood. I never saw it destroyed or our parents die. If I went back, would it still be there? But how would I get back? I didn’t even know where Vaeli was.

Eventually, on the fourth day after Jade and Ira left, Kat allowed me to leave the Fort. I went straight to the river and stripped off my clothes and shoes. The water was best like this, cool with morning and sparkling where the sun hit it. I stayed in the shadows cast by the trees, swimming along the edge away from the current and where my feet still touched the bottom. Hunter watched me from the trees; these days he didn’t bother hiding, but he couldn’t stop me because I was just swimming.

In actuality, I was looking across the river for the narrowest part. I had never been to the beach, except the small one west of the island, where the Wartortle laid their eggs, but south of here, there was a whole other part of the island I had never seen. I didn’t know what to do when I got there, but maybe I could catch a Wailmer and leave. Hunter couldn’t follow me across the river, and Arthur’s Teleport was useless if he didn’t know where I was. Kat could call for Sora and fly over, but I could hide until they went away.

I just needed to get across the river.

I floated aimlessly, a flock of Spearow flying overhead. Such a pretty day, but here in Vaeli, most were.

By the time I left the lake, the sun was setting, and my scattered ideas had solidified into a belief.

I would die if I didn’t leave. Kat wouldn’t let me go, so I would leave on my own. I wanted to see Pallet Town, and if it wasn’t around, I’d go somewhere else. Just me and Crim, and maybe other Pokemon, but it didn’t seem important anymore. They wouldn’t fix my life and they wouldn’t change Kat’s mind.

I had run away before, but this time was real.

 _Seven days. In seven days, I’ll go and never come back_.


	3. Chapter 3

That night at dinner, I said to Kat, “What Pokemon are you going to get me?”

She startled, spoon pausing, surprised that I wasn’t ignoring her anymore.

“You mean at the end of summer?” she said. “Uh, something easy.”

“Not _weak_ , right?”

“I’m not getting you a Caterpie… Or a Scyther.”

“Scyther isn’t weak-”

“Exactly. That’s why you’re not getting one.”

“But I’ve never seen a Scyther,” I complained. Kat saw one back in spring, but she didn’t catch it, so it didn’t count. “I want something cool.”

“Like a water-type? You like those.”

“I don’t want a fish. I want something I can have in here. A Squirtle would be okay.”

“We’ll have to ask the Wartortle when they come,” Kat said, resuming eating. “They like battling trainers. If you prove yourself, they might let a Squirtle go with you.”

I liked the idea. “But I’ll need a Pokemon already. Or will my egg-”

“The egg should take a while. But you don’t need a Pokemon to battle. You can just battle yourself. Not that you ever _should_ , but you have hands and feet. That’s probably how they’ll test you, if they accept the challenge. They won’t hurt you, I’ll be there too.”

I also wanted to be there, and for a moment, considered it, teetering this way and that. But it might not happen. Kat would just think up some excuse on why I shouldn’t do it.

Still, my sister’s mood seemed bright for the rest of the evening and all the next day, as communications opened between us. I allowed it, because I was nice. I was still going to leave, but if Kat could prove she could change, maybe I could stay.

It didn’t change, though. The rules remained: don’t go past the river, don’t bother the wild Pokemon, don’t go too far away, don’t go in the river currents, don’t…

Just a whole list of them, topped by the most important:

Be good.

Right.

As I watched Kat click on the lighter to torch the fire stone at the bottom of the cooking pot, I thought,

 _I’ll be great_.

Arthur helped cook that night, and the next morning he was reading his book, a gold leaf covered text that he never let me see. It was his only book, but he studied it like Emily from my class at school did in the library. I liked Arthur. If it was just me and him, we’d do a lot of cool things, but he listened to Kat. Getting his help would be impossible, so he was an opponent.

I didn’t have any dark-type Pokemon to make him not see me, but I knew his blind spots. He wouldn’t read my mind unless I thought at him- Kat and I had a big fight about that in the beginning- and his future sight wasn’t very good. Good in battle, since they didn’t last past his twenty minute limit, but against me in the field, it wasn’t good enough.

But I wasn’t stupid to think I could get past a psychic-type, so I’d wait until he left. Every few days he disappeared until it got dark. He never accepted my bribes to take me with him, and I didn’t know exactly where he went, but with Arthur gone, Kat had no way to contact him if she needed him.

No, the problem was beforehand. Because with just a hint of suspicion, Arthur would shut everything down- and that suspicion would come from Hunter.

“Go away!” I told Hunter on the way to the river, out of habit, but he stayed there in the treetops. I couldn’t get away from the trees, not until I crossed the river, so I’d need a distraction.

What could make Kat call Hunter back?

An enemy.

I hummed as I splashed a stick into the river, water lapping at my legs. It felt mean to paint Jade as a bad person, because I didn’t think she was, but I used what I could.

She’d come in during the day on her Alteria, while Arthur was gone. If I could set something on fire with the lighter, or make it look like we were under attack, that would make it real. I’d tell Hunter or Kat that Jade came back, and then for my safety, I’d go hide somewhere else. Kat might want to keep me at the Fort, but she sent me away when they came the first time and that was just talking.

Then while everyone was busy, I’d cross the river.

Foolproof.

Poliwag swam meters away from me, now only five, but they each looked a bit fatter, and I smiled. Maybe I could grab one on the way out, but I already had to take Crim. It was a dragon, so the egg should be water-proof, but I didn’t want to lose it.

 _Four days left_.

“You’re wearing the dress?” Kat said as I pulled it on.

“The shorts are too small,” I replied. The dress was frilly and purple, but I didn’t know when I’d get new clothes. Sacrifices had to be made.

“I’ll get you new clothes.”

Then Kat hesitated. I waited, holding my breath.

Would she-

Then she shook her head.

“I’ll go in the next few weeks.”

I smiled, but the disappointment weighed down my stomach. I didn’t know why. Kat never changed.

In those next two days, I made a list of things to take. Crim, my bag, the broken fishing net that Kat let me have, a bottle of water, the knife-

And the lighter. Whenever I entered the Fort now, my eyes glanced towards it on the shelf. I needed it for my distraction, and for after, because making a fire was important. Kat had another lighter in the vault, so she wouldn’t miss it.

 _And she has Sora. She can leave anytime she wants_.

It hurt.

I wish it didn’t.

On the second last day, as I looked across the river, everything settled into place. I would cross on the north side of the river, where it was the most narrow and the current the weakest. It would take longer to get to the beach, but I couldn’t risk crossing at any other point. I was a strong swimmer, that at least Kat taught me, but I couldn’t practice swimming with my bag on without alerting Hunter. It couldn’t be that hard, but it’d slow me down.

 _No other choice_.

Now it was just the distraction. It spread out in my mind, everything I needed to do, and as I stood up, I knew I would have to get the lighter tonight, while Arthur slept. It had gotten lost before, so I wasn’t that worried.

I lifted my head. Approaching night deepened the sky to a beautiful blue, red reaching across it like fingers. Not a cloud, and I breathed in that cool air- only for it to catch.

Crossing the sky like a river were blue-tipped wings.

“What?” I whispered, and glanced back to the treetops. I couldn’t see Hunter. I looked up again, but the Altaria still flew.

 _They can’t come- they’ll ruin everything_!

Slowly, even as my heart hammered, I grabbed my bag and egg and walked back to the Fort. Every muscle in my body was poised to run, but I kept a light pace, dread in my throat. Should I tell Kat? What if they were just flying over and not coming here? If Kat thought I was lying, she’d never believe me later.

Unless I could just do my plan now?

My steps quickened.

No lighter. Arthur was here. No distraction but the truth.

But the real truth was this: if I left now, there would be not one but _three_ people looking for me.

I stopped at the ladder to the Fort, teetering on what to do, when I finally made the climb. Dinner was cooking, Hunter having caught a Psyduck earlier that day. My mouth watered, even as my eyes darted to the lighter.

“Hunter bothering you again?” Kat said. It was her turn to cook tonight, and Arthur didn’t pay attention, just reading his book under light from the lantern.

 _Jade and Ira are back_. It stuck in my teeth, and I stood there.

“He’s fine,” I said, and sat down. I waited for the moment that Hunter would appear, casting me down as a liar and a traitor, but he didn’t. Minutes ticked by. Arthur didn’t look up, but he couldn’t see dark-types. Only I knew they were back.

 _I have to say something. Say something_ …

But if they didn’t come, then my plan would die.

And so would I.

I clutched Crim. My Pokemon, my partner, but it couldn’t save me; maybe it never would.

“Kat,” I said.

She looked up.

“Yeah?”

“I-”

 _She’ll get mad that I didn’t tell her immediately. It’s too late. Don’t say anything_!

When I didn’t say anything, her eyes narrowed.

“Vi? What’s-”

The pot rattled. Kat studied it with a gloved hand, but it rattled harder. The cups and plates on the shelf clicked together, and a low buzzing began in my ears. I pressed my hand against my ear, frowning.

My teeth chattered.

“W- wh- aaa-t-t-”

Arthur jumped to his feet, swiping his paw over his head, creating a bright light that arced over our heads into a dome.

My ears burst and I screamed, holding my head in my hands as the buzz shattered the air. A hand yanked me up, and I saw Kat, mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear, only see blood trickling from her ears. The dome pulsed over us, and Arthur pressed his hands against it, a second dome over his head. The buzz grew louder, plates and cups shattering onto the floor, and Arthur cried out, eyes burning with gold light that poured into his hands and straight up into the barrier.

The buzz trailed off, but I kept my hands over my ears as they echoed and stung. The barriers shattered, and Kat looked at Arthur before running to the door. I stumbled after her, my eyes following hers to the sky.

The Altaria hovered there, so high I could barely see it. Next to it a bigger Pokemon hung, red wings flapping.

Kat’s mouth moved, so I took my hands off my ears, her voice next to me the faintest whisper.

“-Bug Buzz,” she said. “The fuck is a Volcarona here?”

“What’s that?” my mouth moved, silent, but she pulled me inside.

“They’re attacking,” Kat told Arthur, who was still waving his hands, but his head snapped to Kat, glow disappearing. “Teleport us out of here.”

He shook his head and signed, _Dark_. Then he tapped his eyelid.

“Eye… Mean Look? Are they two different Pokemon? One?”

Arthur shook his head again, and Kat cursed. Then she whirled around, grabbing Arthur’s book and then my egg, which had rolled into the wall. She stuffed both into my bag and pushed it against my chest.

“What’s happening?” I said, finally hearing myself. I held the bag limping, waiting- I didn’t know.

Kat surveyed the Fort, taking the Fire Stone from underneath the pot and throwing it in my bag too. It was hot against me, and my breaths came out short and rapid. Glass littered the floor, the lantern overturned, sending a shadow up the wall.

Why was this happening?

“ _Kat_!”

Kat went to the door while I stayed back, beside Arthur. I couldn’t see, but Jade’s voice echoed down like on a speaker.

“ _I’m asking you again, cooperate with me! You saw what we can do. We have more Pokemon! You can’t win. I won’t hurt you, or your sister or Pokemon. I’m just asking for your help! So please- help us_!”

For a long moment, Kat stood there. Then turn away.

“Like hell.”

Her eyes burned bright and angry, and she said to Arthur, “How far up are they?”

Arthur signed.

“That far? That’s too high to hit. Fine; we’ll make a work-around.”

“What about the- the buzz?” I said. “Can’t we just leave? Float down-”

“I don’t know what’s out there. At least one Pokemon, maybe two. If we could get rid of the dark-type-” She shook her head. “No, won’t be far enough. Teleportation is the best bet, but it’d still be uncontrolled and weak. But, you know-”

Kat picked the carving knife off the floor, and then tossed it against the wall, the hilt banging against it.

“I don’t like the idea of them following us,” she said mildly. “I’m not scared of some bug. They’re obviously not trying to kill if they’re using Bug Buzz so far away. Hey, Arthur, how would you like a battle?”

Arthur’s eyes glowed and he nodded. Two spoons floated from the floor into his hands. They bent once, then back, repairing like new.

The fear settled in me, and I placed the bag on my back, but I didn’t know why. Obviously, I wasn’t leaving.

Jade’s voice came again.

“ _If you won’t give up, then we’ll fight. No more negotiation_!”

“Spoiled brat,” Kat muttered, and I looked out the door, dusk fleeting through the trees. A flash caught my eye, and I pointed.

“There’s something there!”

It wasn’t hiding. It stood on a branch thirty feet away, silver and red steel in the shape of a person, but the blades on the ends of its arms didn’t look so friendly.

“Bisharp,” Kat said. “Here’s our dark-type. Can you psychic around it, Arthur?”

The Bisharp stalked to the end of the branch, head turned towards us, when the branch glowed and tilted down. It jumped onto another branch, closer, and then another-

The trees shattered, wrenching to the side in a thunder of broken branches, the Bisharp disappearing under a collapsing tide of wood and leaves. I cried out, the roar crashing down onto the forest floor, shaking the Fort and pushing my back against the wall. When it stopped, I looked from the door to the window.

From a neighborhood of trees was now empty air, the closest trees a good thirty feet away.

“Is it gone?” I said to Kat, my voice cracking. “Kat?”

The pot rattled again, and I covered my ears, Arthur throwing back up the barrier as the buzz grew-

Then silenced so abruptly it left my head spinning, but replacing it were the sharp cries of birds. I shook loose from Kat, looking out the window where dark shapes chased the Volcarona, slashing at it with their wings and claws. Sora led the charge, herding the Volcarona away, even as the Altaria kept behind it, its great wings strangely still.

The Volcarona burst into flames, red-bright, scattering the flock with a flap of its wings, and the Altaria flew back as the fire grew.

“Will it burn us?” I asked Kat.

“They’re not trying to kill us yet,” she replied. “This dry out, an Ember would burn down the forest. Arthur- is the Bisharp-”

Arthur made an awful sound, and Kat yanked me back as the Bisharp appeared in the air, leaping towards us. A glow yanked the cooking pot from its mantle, hot stew shooting out of it. The Bisharp’s foot hit the doorway, cracking it as it leapt off and back, flipping down out of sight, the stew following. Arthur’s eyes shone and wood cracked underneath us, the Fort rattling. I clutched Kat, tears building in my eyes.

“It’ll be okay,” she told me, an arm around my shoulders. “Just stay with me.”

When the Bisharp appeared on the closest tree, its red steel glimmering in the twilight, Kat inhaled. Her eyes narrowed, anger stilling to calm determination.

“Now-”

The Bisharp flinched, falling forward after the branch, and twisting in midair and raising an arm to catch Hunter’s leaf blade. They fell, vanishing past the doorway, Kat keeping me still so I couldn’t go see. Not that I wanted to watch, and I rubbed my eyes, trying desperately to be strong.

Kat pushed me towards Arthur and the sudden withdrawal scared me. “Kat?” I looked back, but she spoke to Arthur:

“We only have seconds before it comes back. Teleport her as far as you can.”

“Wait,” I said, backing up as Arthur raised his hand. “Kat, no, I don’t-”

Static splashed over me, the ground disappearing, and for a moment there was nothing but rushing wind-

I landed on a branch, the impact knocking the breath from me. Gravity pulled me backwards, and I threw my hands out, fingers slipping on the wood. The next branch caught my side, breaking and hitting my bag loose around my arm, and I fell another two feet, hitting and settling in a mess of branches and leaves. The shock emptied my head, and I breathed, the egg pressed against my side. That alone made me shift, but I stopped when the branches creaked under me. Slowly, so slowly, I brought the bag onto my lap, touching my egg, but it didn’t feel broken.

I laid there another moment. A trail of broken branches and leaves hung above me, ending at a patch of sky, navy with just the hint of pink. I glanced down past my nest to a maze of branches, none very strong, but I saw enough.

The ground was a long way down.

Cracks echoed to the left of me, rapid strikes followed by silence, then starting again. It was too dangerous here, so I slung the bag back over my shoulder and sat up, grabbing the branch directly above me for support. Two Spinarak skittered away from me as I edged along the branch, following it to the trunk of the tree, and I let out a breath when my arms wrapped around it.

The cracks came louder. I wanted to see, but Kat would want me hidden. I wanted to be angry for being teleported, but all I breathed was fear. Obviously, I hadn’t gone far, and no way would Arthur put me in the treetops. Kat was always scared I’d fall. _Do they know I’m here_?

Finally, I circled the trunk, shoes and hands finding branches until I began lowering myself down. Not too far, but I could be hidden and also figure out what was happening.

Silence lingered for a minute before I found a gap in the leaves to the forest floor. Nothing moved, until the Bisharp marched out of the bushes, eyes sweeping the ground- then it leapt forward, Hunter’s blade arcing across empty air. The Bisharp whirled around, catching Hunter’s next strike in a crank of blade against metal, and slashed with its other arm. Hunter jumped back, the Bisharp following, and they exchanged blows, Hunter a blur of strikes and the Bisharp slower but meeting each one with precise movements. When the Bisharp went towards a branch, Hunter appeared there and rammed the Bisharp back down.

I couldn’t see well, not enough, but my heart sped up as Hunter paused for a moment, shoulders heaving. Its leaf blade remained still and ready, but in that moment, I knew Hunter wouldn’t win. If Bisharp was a dark and steel-type, then he had nothing to hurt it with.

 _He needs my help_.

But fear kept still. What could I do? I didn’t have a Pokemon.

 _“Kat!_ ” came Jade’s voice. _“I’m giving you one more chance_!”

I looked up and in a burst of anticipation, I crossed a group of branches, finding the next tree, and then the next.

“ _If you continue fighting, your Pokemon will die! We both know this. I don’t understand why you’re still fighting. For the sake of them, give up, or I’ll have to kill them._ ”

Heart in my throat, I stopped, unable to go further. A graveyard of broken trees laid out before me, bowing to a branchless spire of wood with the Fort at its head. Lights in the window were out, but a gold glow replaced them. I couldn’t hear anything, and I didn’t call out. Past the Fort, far in the sky and near invisible against the dusk was one dot. The Altaria.

_Did Sora beat the Volcarona?_

And like a whisper in my mind, I heard my sister’s voice.

“ _We won’t give up. It’s too late for you to leave now. You’ll_ regret _this_.”

Light bled from gaps in the Fort, spreading across the wood, and I shielded my eyes. Wood splintered, light forcing it apart, and the tree cracked as the Fort pulled away.

Like a flower, the Fort bloomed, the roof rising apart into wooden boards, the walls and shelves unravelling and snapping. The ends of the wood sharpened into spears eight feet long, others joining into shields, joining the orbit of what was once our home as it floated up and around. Shards of glass glittered like stars, and something exploded in a burst of fire that jumped from spear to spear, each pointing outwards in a burst of fiery light.

Gold connected each piece into a spiral, circling together into Arthur’s spoons, bright in the eye of the storm. Kat’s arm encircled his neck, her feet touching air and her hair floating as she looked up into the sky.

“ _You think you’re so far away_?” she whispered, voice in my ear. “ _You think you’re_ safe?”

She _laughed_.

The spears circled like bullets in a chamber, the top-most shining before it exploded up in a burst of sound. The Altaria veered left, the spear just missing its wings, and I covered my eyes, my head ringing. Another explosion followed and I made a sound, giving up on anything but clutching the tree and trying not to fall. On the fourth explosion, I forced myself to inch away, finding the branches just by touch, lights flashing in front of my eyes.

When I reached the next tree, I looked to find a path down, only to meet the eyes of the Bisharp. My stomach dropped.

Where was Hunter?

“It’s dangerous up here.”

I startled, barely catching myself as I backed against the tree. Above me crouched Ira, shadow hiding all but her outline and the ease in her voice.

“Jade needs help convincing your sister,” Ira said. “She wants to see you.”

With above and below blocked off, I inched to the side, to get back to the clearing and Kat.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

The warning froze me, and like the tide, my voice bubbled up.

“G- go away. Leave us alone-”

“I can’t.”

“Kat’s going to beat you-”

“She won’t.” Ira’s head seemed to turn towards the Fort as it floated away and up, only three spears in its orbit. “It’s a great show, I’ve never seen an Alakazam fight, but I’m here just for this. Jade doesn’t want your sister’s Pokemon to be killed, but if Kat doesn’t give up, we’ll have no choice. If you can talk her down, we won’t bother either of you for long. This doesn’t have to end badly.”

I didn’t believe her at all, and I spat, “We’ll never give up!”

Ira tilted her head.

“Alright. Then you can be a hostage. Commander-”

I turned and jumped, grabbing the next branch and scrambling up as my weight pushed it down. Through the branches ten feet away was the clearing, my eyes locked forward even as the ground loomed so far down. The Bisharp appeared below me, jumping off a tree and to a higher branch, following me and ascending with precise movements.

All the while the Fort floated away. The explosions barely registered anymore, the last spear pointing up, and it didn’t matter. The Altaria and the bug weren’t the problems, the spear needed to be pointed at the ground.

“Kat!” I screamed, but they didn’t stop. “Kat! Arthur!”

I could no longer see them behind the wood and broken furniture circling them like planets. When my path terminated at the clearing, I stopped, unable to even descend the tree.

“Are you done?”

Ira stood behind me on the next tree, the Bisharp beside her.

“You’re not going to get down on your own.”

I looked down anyways, searching for a hand hold, but all that remained was a steep drop into a graveyard of shattered trees and the sharp ends of branches.

A crack raised my head as the Fort tilted to the side, losing altitude. Shelving and utensils fell to the earth, the glow retreating. The last spear shot up, slowing before it ever reached halfway to the Altaria and then falling back to the ground, the flame going out.

“Kat!” I yelled.

The Fort scraped the bottom of the trees and just like that, it stumbled over itself, collapsing and snuffing out the gold like a candle.

“Kat! Arthur!”

They disappeared behind the trees.

“ _Kat_!”

High above, the Altaria flew away, and within moments, the Volcarona joined it, king and queen of the sky.

I couldn’t see Sora or her flock.

“Are you going to come now?” Isa said, and I turned to look at her. “As long as your sister cooperates, we won’t kill her.”

I looked again to where the Fort disappeared.

Something beeped, and I blinked back tears. Behind me, Ira said, “Jade, I have the sister. What’s going on?”

“ _I have Kat_ ,” came Jade’s reply, and a tight feeling crept up my chest, like claws of darkness. When I turned back around, Ira held a communicator. She didn’t look concerned that I would leave, because where would I go?

“Should I bring the sister?”

Silence.

“ _No_ ,” Jade said. “ _I don’t need her anymore_.”

“Okay.” Ira glanced at the Bisharp, and for the first time, I realized how many blades it had. “What do you want me to do with her?”

“ _It doesn’t matter, just make sure she doesn’t get in the way_.”

“Understood.”

Ira put the communicator away, and it was another moment before the danger slammed into me. The bag hung off my shoulder, my back to a long drop, and there was nothing I could do.

I found my voice.

“G- get away…”

Ira considered me, and said nothing. I swallowed, leaning against the trunk of the tree, wishing for Hunter to appear and save me. Any Pokemon. Anything. _Crim. Arthur. Kat-_

 _Kat_ …

 _If I die_ , I thought, with the sudden strike of clarity. _No one will save Kat_.

“Go away!” I told Ira. “Go _away_!”

The branch creaked as I shifted. Ira stepped onto the next branch, coming closer, the Bisharp at her heels.

I leaned back and the branch broke.

Weightlessness pulled me down as a gasp escaped my lips, head emptying. Branches rustled, and I threw out my arm-

A hand grabbed it and the sudden halt rung out a cry from me. My bag’s strap dug into my shoulder, and I looked up to see Ira.

“Be careful,” she told me, and I couldn’t read her expression. The Bisharp stood beside her, but for the first time, I saw the other Pokemon. The glint of its eyes peered down at me from Ira’s shoulder, a shadowy hand on her neck.

The gaze was endless and fell into me, my vision graying and shrinking.

The world went out.


	4. Chapter 4

Caws circled me, fading in and out.

I listened to them with half-an-ear, waiting to fall back to sleep, but the ground was hard against my back. It didn’t soften despite my wishes, and when I tried rolling over, pain shot through my shoulder and a gasp escaped me.

Sunlight beamed through the canopy, the shapes of birds winging overhead. I stared up, unsure of what was happening.

Then I knew.

I rolled to my other side, finding my bag pressed against me, and grabbed my shoulder. It throbbed, my wrist bruised blue from where Ira had gripped. But anything after that, her and the thing with the eyes, I didn’t remember. Just blank.

So I checked my bag, sighing when I found Crim safe inside. With it was Arthur’s book, the fire stone, my net, and a half-empty water bottle. The idea of Ira putting her hands on my bag tightened my grip on it, and I slung it over my shoulder, the broken strap hanging.

I got up, my limbs stiff from laying on the ground all night, or maybe longer?

I recognized the trees and the branches overhead, low enough to touch my hair. I had been laid out on the trail, halfway to the river, and I could only stand there, confusion, panic, and fear fighting inside my chest and each pushing my heart faster.

But there were more important things.

 _Kat_ …

I walked back towards the Fort, and the trail more unfamiliar with each minute. I stepped over broken branches, and blade marks sliced across the trunks of trees. Every time I looked up, I expected to see Hunter watching, or Sora flying overhead, but emptiness grew between the branches and leaves. Already, daylight had shrunk the previous night smaller, more vague. I remembered being teleported, the Fort being destroyed, being chased, but the strongest of all was the fear.

It stayed with me now as I stopped at the edge of the clearing. It looked worse, the graveyard of trees, because now I could see the Pokemon.

Countless lived in Towering Forest, and many around our Fort. Pidgey nested, protected from Persian by Arthur’s presence, and Dedenne much the same, always trying to get to our food. Spinarak spun their webs in sight of our window, and Metapod lived everywhere, protected only by their shell. Some even lived on the ground: Nidoran tussling with each other, Ekans, brightly colored amongst the leaves, and at night Oddish and Gloom came out from their leafy hideaways.

They were dead now.

The tip of a Metapod stuck out from under a tree, already going gray; the body of a Spinarak on its back, having crawled out and then died with the effort. Last month, a Nidorina gave birth to three Nidoran right next to out Fort, and I couldn’t see them under this mess, but I looked for them anyways, stalking around the clearing. All I found were ripped out feathers tangled in leaves, and a broken family of Dedenne, three squeaking around a fallen tree. When I approached to help, all of them sparked, throwing little lightning bolts until I backed off.

I stood there though, looking up at our tree. The sky looked different with the Fort gone.

But it wasn’t gone. It was still here.

I found where I last remembered, the tree that I fell off of, and I used it to orient myself to the direction where the Fort fell. With every step, my heart rose deeper into my throat, nausea edging the dread of what I would find.

Before it came into sight, I stopped. Sweat dripped down my face, but not from heat, and I held my stomach.

I didn’t want to see.

 _Kat needs you_ , I told myself, but that didn’t make me move. _She’s fine, they just took her_.

But what if they didn’t?

So I stood there, wishing I could wake up, but knowing I wouldn’t, and knowing I didn’t want to see what was ahead.

I heard it instead.

Small growls, ripping, and the unmistakable sound of eating.

My feet moved, then picked up the pace, my bag bouncing against my back. Pieces of roof appeared in the bushes and trees, part of the wall hung caught in a tree, scraps of shelving, and a ripped drape spread across two branches. Something crunched under heel, and I found our cooking pot, in heavy black shards.

I followed the sounds into a clearing.

Three Persian surrounded something, growling and snapping at each other between ducking their heads and coming up with mouthfuls of meat. It stained their cream coats red, hair bristling and wet. I couldn’t see what they were eating, but it was big.

The world spun, and I stepped back, the ground unsteady. I felt cold, and light, my bones hollow like a bird and so fragile. But my eyes locked on the Persians.

The scream tore my throat.

“ _Hey_!”

The three Persian looked up, mouths red, and blood covering their teeth in macabre snarls. I didn’t remember picking up a stick but it was in my hands, the tip sharp, and I charged them, screaming. They backed away, hissing, and one turned tail and fled- but slowly, heavy with a full stomach.

I got to the body and jabbed my stick at the Persian until they retreated fifteen feet away, where they stalked and watched as I looked down at what they had been enjoying.

His wizened face was not calm in death, but twisted with his brow furrowed and eyes squeezed shut. Skin hung off part of his head where it had been bitten, his whiskers red. The Persian had tore open his torso, and one of his legs hung by just pieces of muscle, foot facing in the wrong direction.

“Arthur…”

I dropped the stick as I knelt down and took his hand, his fingers cold and stiff. My breath hitched and I swallowed the sob, but it built in my chest, tumbling over itself and up my throat. My vision wavered through tears until a snarl made my head snap up.

A Persian approached, blood dropping from its mouth. It was as big as me, but I stood up.

“Go…” I took a deep breath. “Go away! Hunter! No, go _away_!”

It didn’t, stalking closer, and I grabbed Arthur’s arm to pull him away, but part of his torso came off in a slosh of guts and organs, and I let go. I backed away, and the Persian, seeing its victory, sauntered back to the body, growling once more at me before continuing eating. My stomach rolled and my ears rung, and when I looked up, the last Persian stared at me.

Its ear twitched, mouth closed, and then it walked past the body and towards me.

“Hunter?” I called, my voice so quiet, and I backed away. My stick laid beside Arthur, and the Persian followed me, my eyes not leaving it. Kat always said that if a Persian started stalking me, to never run or move, but to appear larger, but my feet wouldn’t stop. The Persian growled, muscles tense, and its tail swishing behind it.

 _If I stop, it’ll kill me_ , I thought, and just like that, the fight bled out of me. I was prey, and that wouldn’t ever change.

So I turned and ran. Twigs broke as the Persian picked up the pace. Branches scraped against my face and caught my dress, and the tree graveyard came into view. To go over or around? I only had a second, and I pumped my legs harder and leapt onto the pile of wood. It broke under my weight, rolling back to the ground, and I scrambled up. The family of Dedenne sparked, squeaking, until a growl cut through the air and they scattered under the branches. Wood cracked behind me, the Persian throwing up wood, and something hit my back, but I didn’t stumble as I climbed over the trees and to the other side.

I leapt and hit the ground running, finding the trail and racing down it. I couldn’t hear the Persian anymore, but only when I got to the river did I stop, gasping for breath. The ends of my hair clung to my neck as I looked back, not seeing the Persian. Still, I followed the river, breaking into another run as I headed north.

“Hunter!” I shouted, but the trees were quiet. “Where are you?”

When I saw the bend in the river, I went past it, then left at the huge Nanab bush. The Persian couldn’t be following me anymore, but I couldn’t stop.

Eventually, I did. I saw the dead tree beside the river and threw up, before collapsing beside the mess. My feet hurt, but and I was too tired to even cry. Numbness mixed with the exhaustion and awful taste in my mouth, and I sat there for minutes, longer.

 _I left Arthur_ , I thought, and I cried again.

A squeak raised my head and I startled when a Dedenne leapt from my shoulder, its long tail twitching. I hadn’t felt it. _Did it hitch a ride?_

It inspected the river with its nose, and I watched it quietly, wanting anything but to think of him. When the Dedenne came back to me, I lowered my hand and it jumped on. _Friendly_ , crossed my mind, but I didn’t say anything as it raced up my arm, the tickles causing my breath to hitch. It crossed my shoulder blades under my hair, and sat on my other shoulder. It was so light, and somehow, I wasn’t alone.

“ _Please stay_ ,” I whispered to it, and for that long hour, the Dedenne did.

The day remained bright, the sun travelling overhead, not yet noon. My stomach throbbed, my throat dry as any desert, the tears having rung everything from me, but what else was there to do?

Arthur was dead. I couldn’t even get his body.

Hunter and Sora hadn’t come back, and Hunter always came when I called.

And Kat was gone.

 _If I just told her when I saw them_ … I squeezed my eyes shut, but nothing could stem the regret that washed over my head and down my back. It _hurt_ in a way no other injury had. I wanted to apologize for being so stupid, but would I ever get to? Would I ever see her again?

A memory rose.

A few years ago, I fought with my best friend because I said her new shoes looked stupid- which they did. She played with only Alli after that, and I got so angry that she wouldn’t talk to me that I ignored her as well. I thought the silence would make her reconsider things and come back to me. When I talked to Kat on the phone that month, she said:

“ _Sulking does nothing. If you have a problem, do something about it. You’re just going to make it worse. Never do nothing_.”

But I didn’t listen, and eventually, we stopped talking altogether. It wasn’t the same as thing, this was so much worse, but I didn’t want to sit and cry. I didn’t want to do nothing.

So I sat there with the Dedenne and thought, _How can I fix this_?

There was only one way. Jade and Ira killed Arthur and took Kat. They said they’d return Kat, but they also said if I helped them, Arthur wouldn’t have to die. And Hunter, and Sora. But that was a lie.

“ _I don’t need her anymore_ ,” Jade had said.

I stood up.

“I’m going to rescue Kat,” I told the Dedenne. It tilted its head, and I looked at the dead tree.

At the base of its, tangled in roots, was a steel safe. How it got here we didn’t know, but Kat found it one day, and after two weeks with her ear against the door, got it open. Nothing but useless paper had been inside, so Kat took it over.

If anything ever went wrong, the vault was here as a backup.

I knelt before it, turning the knob as I remembered before it clicked, and I pulled the door open. The Dedenne leapt off my shoulder, and I glanced at it.

“Stay here! It’s just the vault. Look.”

It did, and so did I with growing curiosity. Kat had never let me look into the safe alone. It looked like the last time, though, with two shelves.

I sat down, crossed my legs, and began pulling out items.

The bottom shelf was the important stuff. Gauze, and a quarter bottle of pain pills. A tiny bottle of alcohol that I sniffed the top of because that’s what TV people did, but I didn’t smell anything. A single Hyper Potion, one Revive, but the Revive crumbled in my hand, obviously expired. Two containers of Ether, and a Full Heal that smelled bad so I threw it away too. Behind all the medicine I pulled out a portable water distiller that Kat said cost her four hundred dollars and was finnicky. Along with it I found a working flashlight, a pack of small batteries, a package of protein bars, and to my relief, a lighter.

I unwrapped one of the protein bars, breaking off a piece and giving it to the Dedenne, who sniffed it before eating it whole. It then turned to my remaining portion.

“This is mine,” I protested, taking a bite. “Look, here’s all the good stuff.”

The top shelf contained everything else Kat kept across three regions, the things that made her a trainer.

A Thunder Stone that the Dedenne jumped off my shoulder to inspect, a soft velvet bag containing shiny objects, pearls and nuggets, and blue teardrop pendent. The last I put around my neck, and I finished off the bar and grabbed the TM case next. It was white and patterned with little Dragonite, but behind it were the things I wanted to see.

Poke Balls.

“Yes,” I whispered, and pulled them out. Eight in all, of different types, and I turned over the only classic Poke Ball, finding writing in black pen. _Sora_. Hunter’s was the Great Ball, and a Dive Ball belonged to Sparks, the Lantern Kat left behind in Hoenn. Remaining were two Dive Balls and three Ultra Balls, empty, and though I knew Arthur didn’t have a Poke Ball, it hurt me all the same to not see him here.

Last in the vault were the normal, boring stuff: birth certificates and Kanto medical cards for both me and Kat. Kat’s trainer card, and her wallet containing cards, bills, and a gift card to the Lilycove Department Store. Lastly- lastly was Kat’s gold Pokedex that I picked up with both hands.

It didn’t boot up when I pressed the buttons, and I inspected it closely, looking for a battery compartment or a plug in for a charger. There seemed to be some sort of plug in, but no charger had been left with it, and I frowned. Kat had bought it just before she picked me up, and never let me touch it, so I didn’t know how it worked.

“Maybe a Rotom?” That was the Pokedex all the trainers in commercials had…

A zap hit my hand and I flinched, but the Dedenne continued rubbing its cheek against the Thunder Stone, both glowing.

 _Maybe the Dedenne can charge the pokedex_?

But then I imagined rescuing Kat and her finding out I destroyed her Pokedex with a Thunder Shock.

I placed the Pokedex with the rest, to figure out later. Instead, I grabbed the TM case. Inside were the two TMs Jade had given Kat, Thunder and Psychock, and along with them were four others: Aerial Ace, Hidden Power, Brick Break, and Thief.

I picked up the Thunder TM, which did look older and different than the others, and looked at the Dedenne.

No wild Pokemon had ever gotten so close to me, aside from the Drowzee I nearly lured a month ago, before Hunter scared it away. This time I hadn’t even been trying, and it was no longer a question about what Pokemon I wanted but how many.

“Hey,” I said, picking up an empty Ultra Ball. The Dedenne glanced up, and I hesitated. Capturing a Pokemon in a Poke Ball didn’t guarantee loyalty, you had to earn its respect by a battle or some sort of encounter, otherwise it might run once released from the Poke Ball. I didn’t have anything to stop that. So I continued, “Do you want to come with me? I have to rescue my sister.”

Its whiskers twitched, eyes blinking, then it went back to rubbing the Thunder Stone. I grabbed the Thunder Stone, holding it out of its reach, and it squeaked angrily.

“Listen!”

Its ears dropped, and I quickly lowered my voice.

“You can have the Thunder Stone if you come with me. I’ll be your trainer and I’ll feed you. But you have to get in this ball and stay with me.”

I placed the Ultra Ball in front of it. The Dedenne looked at it, and I held my breath, fighting all my impulses to shove the ball into it.

The Dedenne outstretched a paw, touching the Ultra Ball. It opened, sucking in the Dedenne in a burst of light, and snapped closed. I leaned so close my nose was nearly against it as it shook. Once. Twice. Three times-

 _Click_.

“I-” I picked up the Ultra Ball. “I did it?”

I waited for the happiness, the elation, the celebration I had planned on throwing when I got my first Pokemon- but I didn’t feel anything. It was like cleaning my clothes: just something I needed to do.

I pressed the button, nearly dropping the Ultra Ball as it opened and released the Dedenne. Just as it formed, I gave it back the Thunder Stone, and it jumped on top of it, balancing with its cheeks glowing.

“You need a name,” I said, and picked it up, but it jumped out of my hands to sit on my shoulder. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

It squeaked, a non-response if I ever heard one.

“You seem like a boy,” I told it. “Your name is…”

Some trainers had naming themes, or didn’t name their Pokemon at all. Kat chose whatever suited the Pokemon, but usually people names. I had always wanted to use really cool names that no other Pokemon had, but as I looked at my Dedenne, he was more down to earth than any of my fantasies.

“Your name is Jacky.”

He blinked, and I rubbed his head with my finger. He leaned into it, and I tried to smile, but it faded when I remembered Arthur.

I looked around at the items surrounding me. They were a good distraction, but I was here for a purpose. I needed to rescue Kat, and I only wanted supplies.

I emptied my bag, laying out Crim, the net, Arthur’s book, the Fire Stone, and the water bottle, which I drained and felt a little better. It wasn’t a big backpack, but big enough for me, with one broken strap and some side pockets I never used.

I’d need to cross the river, so I could take what could fit in my bag.

“What should I take?” I asked Jacky, who pointed at the Thunder Stone. A small thrill ran through me. _He understood me_. “We’re taking that for sure. And the Fire Stone. If you light it on fire, it stays alight, like firewood. So that’s the lighter too.”

It took half hour.

Crim was first in line, along with the elemental stones and the lighter. I packed all the medicine, along with the flashlight, and the protein bars. The batteries and the velvet bag I left in the vault, along with my broken net. The TM case was of course coming, and so were the empty Poke Balls and Jacky’s Ultra Ball. There was no point in taking the occupied Poke Balls, but I promised that I’d come back for them. Kat’s trainer card and Pokedex went in next, and I placed her wallet in my bag compartment, in case I found a store.

I picked up Arthur’s book, my thumb brushing the gold-leaf cover and hooking around the locked clasp keeping it closed. He never let me read it, and the front and back cover were tight against the pages so I couldn’t peek.

I dug my fingers next to the clasp and pulled, but when the covers creaked, I stopped and smoothed out the crease.

 _This is his book. I can’t break it_ …

Maybe I’d find a metal cutter, so I put the book in my bag for later.

The problem was the water distiller.

“I need water,” I told Jacky. Kat usually boiled the water, but in winter, we used the distiller at the Fort. If I was going into the wild, I would need it since I had no pot, but it wouldn’t fit in my bag, not unless I took Crim out, and even then it’d be too heavy.

I glanced at the river, and then the trees on the other side. Kat had always mentioned going to a town to find my clothes, and though she never said, it felt like it was always the same town.

“I bet it’s here. The town’s on the other side of the river, behind the cliff. We can probably find food and water there.”

On cue, my stomach twisted, and I rubbed it, but didn’t reach for another protein bar. Those were for emergencies.

The sky remained bright, but who knew how long it would take to cross the river.

I stood up, and put the distiller back into the vault, and closed it. I spun the dial to lock it, and I picked up my bag, heavier than before, and put it over my shoulder.

“You need to go back in,” I said to Jacky, and he stayed still as I tapped him with his ball, pulling him back inside. I minimized it and placed it with the rest in my bag, and began the trek back to the river.

I leaned in to the breeze, caws circling overhead, but they were only Spearow. I watched the treetops for a shadow or a stalker, but Hunter was no longer here. If he hadn’t come out by now, then he never would. Just gone, like Sora and her flock. Arthur at least I found, even if I couldn’t bring back…

I stopped at the river’s edge, and looked back at Towering Forest.

“Hunter?” I called.

Leaves blew in the wind. There would never be anything else.

 _That’s it, then_ , I thought.

I turned, and moved on.


	5. Chapter 5

The hem of my dress was dry before I saw the bridge.

The sky remained bright, but I made worse time, the trek across the river and the rest after eating an hour, but at the first sign of civilization, my pace picked up.

“It’s a bridge!” I told Jacky, who only clung to my shoulder as I moved faster.

It wasn’t huge, but it was old, age wearing the corners of the brown stone. The railing looked newer, metal, and I leaned over it, the river streaming underneath and heading south, towards the ocean. 

On the other side was more forest, smaller the one behind me, but never had I felt more anticipation.

 _A town. People_.

Or maybe no one at all, but I swallowed that fear. I could rescue Kat myself, but I wanted help if I could find someone.

 _Please, let someone be there_ …

After the bridge came the road, a walking trail like something I would find in Pallet Town, not big enough for a car but enough for people. It stretched straight ahead for what must have been a mile, and I would see anyone that came in the other direction from a long way away. As I walked, I told myself what to say if I saw someone, but half-an-hour passed and I never did.

Near the end I found a sign. Plants grew over it, and I brushed them away, not that it mattered. Age wore away the writing, but it looked like my language. I didn’t know anything about the Vaeli region, and had never thought before that they wouldn’t understand me. A good answer for a problem I didn’t know existed before this moment.

By now, Jacky was half-asleep on my shoulder. I knew Dedenne ate nuts and berries, and slept during winter, but not much else. When I shifted my shoulder, he somehow hung on.

 _Don’t wake him_ , I told myself. He was my first Pokemon. He could sleep as much as he liked, as long as he would battle with me. Not that I knew how to do that outside of forgotten school lessons and Kat’s half-hearted attempts to teach me.

I was so caught up in thinking of attacks Jacky knew, that I nearly missed the house. The red mailbox was half-hidden by trees, and I opened it, heart pounding. No mail, and I look past the trees to the cottage and its dark windows. Ivy grew up the walls in tangles and the garden was an overgrown mess.

It looked abandoned.

“Hello?” I called up the path. No one responded, and I glanced down the trail, seeing another mailbox, and then another.

 _I made it_.

I felt like I was in the amusement park in Viridian City, my head turning in every direction. I saw the streetlights ahead long before I got close, and paint peeled from the poles, but they existed.

“We’re here!” I told Jacky, who stirred. “Oh, sorry. Go back to sleep.”

Jacky shook his little head, perking up, so I scratched his ear.

Houses dotted the sides of the road, all abandoned and unkept, and under my feet the road turned to pavement, weeds and daffodils growing in the cracks. A rusted bike leaned against a wooden fence, the metal parts shrieking in protest when I tried pulling it upright. Further down I found another house and in the yard another bike, black and in better condition.

“A basket!” I said, delighted, putting down my bag to take out Crim. I had always wanted to ride a bike with an egg in the basket, just like the cartoons, and Crim looked very nice there. There was a little stand behind the seat, and I did my best to latch my bag onto it; I couldn’t ride with my bag’s broken strap.

I adjusted the seat all the way down, and my feet barely reached the pedals. Jacky jumped from my shoulder onto Crim, his feet slipping on the red scales. Then he tensed, and jumped back onto me, racing up my arm to hide behind my neck in my hair.

“It’s just Crim,” I said, but he wouldn’t come out and I wasn’t surprised. Pokemon didn’t like being near Crim; it was a powerful dragon-type, or at least it better be. “Let’s go!”

I pedaled, the bike creaking under me but moving all the same. It was nothing like my sparkly red bike in Pallet Town, but the knowledge of how to ride came back to me as I took it away from the house and down the road.

Wind rushed through my hair, a smile breaking across my face as my necklace bounced against my shirt and Jacky’s ears flapped. The town opened up, and it was a real town: houses and small buildings with names like _Farmer’s Market_ and _Joe’s Store_. A police station sat on the corner, barely bigger than the bus terminal in Viridian City. I found bar after that, with two motorcycles parked in front of it. Those were too heavy to move, and the wooden door of the bar wouldn’t budge, with iron bars over the windows. No cars anywhere, the road still not big enough for one, but plenty of bikes and what looked like a golf cart outside one of the houses up the street.

Odd things too: dead patches of grass; the tree by the police station missing half its leaves; a cement wall of a house melted, the roof collapsed; a streetlight laid half-across the road, its base a twisted mess of metal like cold magma. A battle must have happened, sometime, but when?

I came to an intersection, stopping at the stop sign, but I was the only one there. My elation trailed off, replaced with a tight feeling in my chest.

“Hello?” I called. “Anyone here?”

I waited and waited, looking for movement, but nothing did. No sounds. Just an empty intersection, and empty town, and me. The air weighed heavy on my shoulders, and it felt wrong.

Worse, it felt sad.

I didn’t like it.

“Maybe they’re hiding.”

I turned my bike around, going back to the stores. The closest was Joe’s Store, and as I rode closer, my mood brightened. It looked nice, the sign flipped to OPEN, and the windows having all their glass. I dropped my bike, bag, and Crim in front of it, walking closer. I tried the door. Locked, of course, so I peered through the window. The shelves were mostly empty, the cash counter clear. But at the very back, I saw the unmistakable colors of my favorite brand of potato chips.

“Jacky! Look!”

I pointed. He didn’t seem to understand. I pressed my face against the window, breath fogging it, and the glass half empty became half full as I saw the one or two items of each kind left. Chocolate bars. Candy. Soda bottles. _Chips_. Not that many. Nothing much at all.

But it solved the greatest mystery of my life. Sometimes if we hadn’t eaten for a while, Kat would come back with chips or candy, or sometimes soda. Last month on my birthday, she gave me my favorite chips and wouldn’t say where she got them from.

Here.

Forget the missing people. Forget- forget him. Kat needed me rested and strong.

My stomach growled, and I wanted nothing more in my life.

I circled the store, finding another locked door, and when I reached the front again, I looked around for something I could break the glass with.

The force hit my back, throwing me onto my stomach and slamming my chin into the pavement. Pain burst from my mouth and I cried out, spitting out blood. My head rung, and I pushed myself to my knees before the second force hit my side and pushing me back over.

 _“Squeak_!”

I raised my head, my Dedenne in front of me with his cheeks sparking. Past it was another Pokemon. It was just taller than my knees, blue with a gray, pointed head and what looked like round ears or hair buns. It raised its hand, bending its knees into a pose as it glared at me. It took a couple moments to recognize it.

“A Meditite,” I said, and it cried out, thrusting its hand and letting out a blue wave that caught my Dedenne and sent it flying back into me. I caught him and stood up, backing away. The Meditite followed me, circling until it was in front of the store and the road was behind me.

“We just want the chips!” I told it, but it sent another wave at me. I ducked my head before it hit and my feet skidded back, but I remained upright. Jacky climbed onto my shoulder, his cheeks glowing as the hair on his back rose. My hands tingled, and I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. My skipped a beat, then another, and while no sparks flew from him, I felt the static.

The Meditite did too, because it stepped back, its hands still raised. That moment of weakness paired with my longing for those potato chips cemented my decision.

I put Jacky on the ground.

“We’re going to battle,” I said, and hesitated. “Do you want to?”

The static-feeling faded, but Jacky nodded, and the trepidation clenched my hands into fists. My head jumped from one idea to the next, and I grabbed the clearest one.

“Thunder Shock,” I told him, and when he looked at me, I read the question in his eyes.

 _What’s Thunder Shock_?

The wave hit Jacky, picking him up and throwing him past me.

“Hey!”

I ran to him, and he picked himself up, shaking his body like he was getting rid of water. I glared at the Meditite.

“Can you just let us talk for a minute?”

The Meditite stalked back in froth in front of the doors to the store, its eyes not leaving us. But it also didn’t attack, and I turned back to Jacky.

I put my hands to my cheeks and spread them up and out. “Thunder Shock! Electricity. Little thunderbolt. Use it on the Meditite!”

I pointed, and Jacky walked forward, glancing back at me.

“Thunder Shock! Jacky, Thunder Shock!”

His cheeks sparked, and he shuddered, letting out a cry as electricity shot forward, bouncing off the ground and terminating halfway to the Meditite. Not even five feet.

I glanced behind me to make sure no one was watching this.

“That’s- that’s good!” I told Jacky, who perked up. The Meditate hadn’t moved, and I didn’t dare look at its face. I picked Jacky up. “It was a good battle, but we’re going to go now. And try again later! But we’ll rest first.”

The Meditite kept us in its sights as I got my bike and got out of there. My face felt hot.

 _This is why I didn’t want a Dedenne as a Pokemon_.

Immediately, I regretted thinking that.

 _That’s not fair. We’re both new. We just need to figure out what we’re good at_.

That’s what Ms. Lee always said in school. We were never taught how to be trainers, just basic stuff, like how to throw a Poke Ball. Last year, my grade held a mock tournament and we all brought a Pokemon. I brought Sunny, my mom’s companion Sunflora, not that she obeyed anything I said, but none of the other kids had much luck. Except for Leo. He acted so smug because he brought his dad’s Charizard. I wanted to beat him, but Ms. Lee wouldn’t even let us battle because Sunny was a grass-type.

He’d laugh if he saw my Dedenne. But he’s dead now, so it didn’t matter- aside from the biggest problem.

How was I supposed to fight Jade and Ira if my Pokemon couldn’t battle well? The static thing Jacky did could be cool if I knew what it did.

Cries of Wingull raised my head.

“Let’s keep going,” I said. “Maybe we’ll find someone.”

I continued down the road towards the ocean, and at the end was a small building with _Marina_ painted on the side. _Boats_ , I thought with one last hope. _People_ …

When I reached the doors, I grabbed Jacky and Crim and put down the bike, entering through the front door. The roof hung over water and a small dock, the marina doors wide open to the sea. Not a single boat was present, and the small glass cubicle containing a desk and some filing cabinets was locked. I pulled on the knob, and tried breaking the glass with my fist, but they wouldn’t budge.

There wasn’t much town outside of what I had seen. This was the end. This was _it_.

I stomped back outside the marina, gathering my things.

“No one’s here!”

I couldn’t believe it, and I couldn’t believe I was actually disappointed. Kat always said there weren’t people, but that made me angrier. Why did Kat never let me come here? There was nothing here to be scared of! We could have live here all this time rather than the Fort.

Jacky’s nose twitched against my ear, and I sighed.

“Are you hungry? Maybe we can sneak into that store…”

I picked my bike back up, and walked it back towards the town. In front of it was a sign I hadn’t noticed before, but unlike the last, I could read it.

It read:

 _Welcome to beautiful Three Island_!

My world tilted.

“What?” I said.

I read it again, but the message didn’t change.

I stood there.

“But…”

I knew of _a_ Three Island, in the Sevii Islands. But… we were in the Vaeli Region. I would have known if it was by the Sevii Islands. This couldn’t be that Three Island.

 _Kat said_ -

I got on my bike, and rode it to the closet building, which was an oceanside cabin. The window was broken, wiped of glass, and I left Crim outside as I climbed in, Jacky clinging to my shoulder. I ignored the mess and the broken furniture, grabbing all the paper I could see. Writings, poems, letters-

It didn’t matter. On the wall was a map, and I dropped the paper, walking up to it. It showed seven islands, and I stood on my tiptoes, brushing my finger across Three Island. It looked to be in the same layout, but wouldn’t I know if this was Three Island? I didn’t remember a big forest like Towering Forest being here.

I stared at the map.

“She lied. She _lied_ to me.”

 _She couldn’t trust me to come to town. She couldn’t trust me with a Pokemon. She couldn’t trust me to tell me where we were_.

I had been in Kanto the whole time.

Jacky dug into my shoulder, and absent-mindedly, I scratched under his chin.

 _Am I really that useless to her_?

I left the cabin and grabbed my bike, walking it back into town. I could see Towering Forest over the cliffside, against the darkening sky, and it seemed wrong now. Too big. But it also wasn’t important. How could I save Kat? She didn’t believe in me, and she was a good trainer. I didn’t even know where she was, and that hit me so hard I stopped in the middle of the road.

How was I supposed to find her?

The tears started, and I rubbed them away, but they wouldn’t stop.

Why was I so useless?

I ended up back at the first house I saw, with the red mailbox. I meant to stay closer to town, but I didn’t want to think about anything, so I just kept walking and walking. Jacky was asleep on my shoulder, so I returned him to his Ultra Ball, my own eyes drooping.

As I approached the front door, a shape jumped out of the dirt and fled into the trees. On the doorstep, I pressed the doorbell button, but nothing sounded.

I opened the door.

My flashlight shone over a living room, and when I tried the light switch, it remained dark. I closed the door behind me, just the fainted inkling that reminded me to open my mouth.

“Hello?”

My voice sounded weak, but I didn’t repeat it.

No one was here. No one would ever be here.

I touched the couch, then shook my hand to get the dust off. Glass covered the floor of the dining room, the window broken. Strange sounds came from the room beyond it, so I turned back to the living room, finding a hallway with two closed doors. The first led to a bathroom, and I tried the tap, nothing coming out. The second door was to a bedroom, and I stood there in the doorway.

The bed was in ruins, the sheets torn and covered on the floor. They were filthy, Pokemon having obviously moved in some time ago, though I didn’t see any now.

But it was a bed. It was a home.

With nothing but the dregs of energy pushing me, I opened the bedroom closet, finding the clothes untouched and above those, blankets. I jumped, two tries before I grabbed the end of a blanket, and pulled three down. I carried them to the bathroom, putting them on the vanity, along with my bag with Crim inside.

I closed and locked the bathroom door. It smelled bad, but I was more tired than I had ever been in my life. I sat on the lip of the tub, pulling off my shoes and socks, and then my sweaty dress. I ate the last of my protein bars, leave one for Jacky, and thirst chased my thoughts around, giving me a headache.

I took Crim and Jacky’s ball to the tub, and wrapped us in blankets. I pressed my ear to Crim, hearing nothing, but that was okay. Everything was okay. I would just sleep a bit. And then maybe everything would go away.

So I closed my eyes, the soft sounds of movement from far away lulling me to rest.

When I woke up, it was pitch black. I breathed in that quiet dark, and reached out and banged my fingers on the side of the tub. I hissed, and my memory pieced together. My flashlight remained on the bathmat, and I climbed out of the tub, stiff. When I opened the door, light shone through, a musk following it so strongly I wrinkled my nose.

I took Crim with me as I left the bathroom.

The house looked worse in daylight. Patterned blue wallpaper peeled on the wall, the cushions on the couch shredded. A display cabinet stood upright against the wall, fallen and broken dishes visible through the spiderwebbed cracked glass. On top of it was a frame on its side, and I picked it up, the photograph showing a smiling elderly couple. The rest of the family had been swept to the ground, and I gathered them, not knowing why, and placed them on the top of the cabinet.

My throat was dry as any desert, and it urged me past the dining room to the kitchen. I stood in the doorway for a minute, but couldn’t hear any weird sounds. The sink faucet didn’t work, and white fur stuck to the drain, like a Meowth had been sleeping it.

 _Arthur_ …

It still hurt, just as bad as when I found him. Maybe one day it would be better, like how I thought of Pallet Town, but I didn’t _want_ it to be better. He didn’t deserve that. I would rather have him than a hundred parents.

And yet, it was still better than thinking of Kat, and those embers of anger pulled my lips down.

I had left Arthur in Towering Forest, but Kat was still out there, and this hurt would just keeping going on and on. I don’t know if I could ever not be angry with her, and I didn’t want to do that either.

Kat _also_ didn’t deserve it.

I opened the cupboards, finding cups and plates, and then some ingredients and boxed food. All of it was either expired or Pokemon had gotten to it first. Instead, and with some trepidation, I opened the fridge door.

I nearly passed out, and took several steps away, holding my nose. With my other hand, I grabbed the juice boxes and with some disbelief, a pitcher of what looked like water. I slammed the fridge door, and without thinking, drank the water. It tasted funny and some ran down my chin, but I drank the entire pitcher. When I slammed it onto the counter, I had never been more satisfied.

Only then did I notice the piece of paper on the counter next to the toaster by the wall. I picked it up. It was dated two years ago and read:

_Leah,_

_We got the emergency alert and are heading to your Uncle Paul’s on Seven Island. We don’t have much time to write, but we’re there if you’re looking for us._

_Please be safe and love you lots,_

_Mom and Dad._

The mention of Seven Island just confirmed what I already knew. I put the letter back and went back to the bathroom to think.

I was still going to rescue Kat, and then yell at her. If she thought I wasn’t a good trainer, if she thought I was useless, then I’d prove her wrong. Maybe Jacky wasn’t that strong, but we would work on it together.

The problem was finding her. I didn’t know where Jade or Ira took her or had come from, and I didn’t even hear their first conversation, just snippets.

 _A person’s name… token… something gone… won… maybe Kat won something_? If it was about Johto, it could be a lot of things, but she didn’t win much. She dropped out of the competitive circuit after the tournament and went to work for a professor in Hoenn. But she’d been forced to, so maybe she did some other battles?

But Johto and Hoenn were whole regions. I couldn’t search that big of a place without more clues.

Maybe I could find Silvia in Blackthorn City?

I didn’t like the idea. It would take too much time and I needed to find Kat _now_. But how would I do that?

I sighed, and released Jacky from his Ultra Ball. He stretched and sniffed my bag, so I took out the Thunder Stone and the last of my food. I smiled as I watched him eat, and that got me thinking. After Jacky was done, I pulled my dress and shoes back on then grabbed him and Crim. I shut the bathroom door behind me, and went out the front door. With Jacky on my shoulder, I placed Crim in my bike’s basket, swung myself over the seat, and peddled into town.

I didn’t know how to find Kat, but I’d think better with more food and water.

Most of all, I wanted those chips.


	6. Chapter 6

“Jacky,” I said, the wind whipping by us. The sky was clear and warm, a summer day like all the others. “What attacks can you do?”

He made no reply, not even a squeak, just enjoying the ride.

 _Thunder Shock… Tail Whip… the static move… a fairy attack_?

“If we’re going to beat that Meditite-”

I pumped harder, the town flying by.

“-we have to know what we can do.”

I rode past Joe’s Store without stopping, and turned into the bar’s space, parking my bike beside the motorcycles. But I didn’t disembark, even as Jacky did to inspect the motorcycles with his nose. I pulled Kat’s Pokedex from the basket, hitting it with my palm.

“Work! Come on.”

The screen remained black. I pointed it at my Dedenne and pressed all the buttons. Nothing.

 _Fine. Be useless. I don’t need you_.

I left my bike and knelt down beside Jacky. “Thunder Shock!” I told him, and he looked at me. I did the motion from my cheeks and sparks flew from Jacky’s own, then faded- because I didn’t point? I repeated the experiment, this time pointing at a patch of grass, and the resulting Thunder Shock blackened the ends of the grass.

 _He’s smart and he obeyed me_! Following thought: _it barely did anything to the grass_ …

“How about… the static thing?” I pressed my finger up his back to make his hair stand up. His face scrunched up, and I clenched my hand when the tingle came back, followed by the static. I walked away from Jacky, two feet, five feet, eight feet, twelve feet- the feeling ended. I circled him, the static pouring out of him in the shape of a dome, but I didn’t know what it was or what it did. Other than be weird.

Maybe… a new attack no one’s seen before? That would make my Dedenne really special, and I imagined him throwing around lightning bolts, stronger than even a Raichu.

_“How?” Jade would say in disbelief, when Jacky took down her Altaria and stood on top of the defeated dragon-type. “It’s just a Dedenne, how is it so strong?”_

I dismissed that. “That’s really cool!” I told Jacky, who’s cheeks still glowed. “I don’t know its name, but let’s call it… Static Aura!”

I tried to think of other electrical moves.

“Thunder Wave?” I fluttered my fingers at him and felt stupid, but Thunder Wave would be so useful. “Spark? Uh- Baby-Doll Eyes? Fairy Wind-” _No, he wouldn’t know that_. I racked my brain. I didn’t even know what level he was or how many attacks he knew. Pokemon could remember at least four at a time, and if he was a Dedenne, then probably four? Arthur knew eight, which was the highest a Pokemon could know, and Hunter knew six.

When the next ten minutes didn’t offer any further attacks other than probably Tail Whip, I called for a break.

“We’re going to fight together,” I told Jacky as I picked him up and placed him on my shoulder. “So I need a weapon too.”

More like something to break glass with. I didn’t want to hit the Meditite, but if Jacky was weak, he would need help battling until he got stronger. Without another Pokemon, I was all he had. I didn’t mind it. I needed to get stronger too.

I checked the area around the bar before trying the door again- only for it to unlatch and open.

“Jacky?” I said, then stopped. The air felt heavy again. Was the door always unlocked? I tried it before, but I thought it had been locked.

A minute passed. Nothing continued to happen, so I pulled the door open farther, peeking in.

It was just a restaurant. Bright brown wood covered the walls and floors, the tables and chairs the same and made of thick slabs. At the end sat the bar, a painting of a Chinchou and Magikarp hanging above it, and on either side shelves of broken bottles and glasses. Yet my breaths came out short. It didn’t smell of anything, but it was like it was in outer space and it was hard to breathe.

Jacky urgently squeaked into my ear, and I frowned.

“We should at least _look_. What if there’s something here?”

Something good, I meant. I couldn’t see anything bad, from the door at least.

I entered, finding a doorstop on the floor and wedging it under the door to stop it from closing. I put a hand over my chest, breathing deep, slow breaths, but it didn’t help. Jacky squeaked again.

“I’ll be fast. Go wait outside.”

He didn’t leave, and I scratched his head as I walked across the bar. The chairs were too heavy, but maybe I could find something like a pool cue? They had those in bars, I was pretty sure.

As I walked closer to the bar, it became harder to breathe, until Jacky jumped from my shoulder to go back outside. I resisted every urge to follow him, and my eyes began to water. Maybe because they did that when I was sad, did the air become thick in that, a drowning sort of despair I hadn’t felt since we left Pallet Town.

I reached the bar, and beside it on the floor, hidden by the tables, were humans skeletons.

They could be nothing else, three sets of white grins and empty eye sockets. The bones were stripped bare of skin, but not clothing- black leather jackets so big around the bones they looked like tents, black and blue jeans, and lace-up motorcycle boots that I had always wanted to wear.

My mouth dropped open. I backed up, tripping over a chair and sending it and me tumbling to the ground. The bang it made echoed in my head, and in that drawing silence, the walls creaked. I couldn’t feel my toes and fingers when I pushed myself to my feet. My head felt hazy and tense, like the whole ocean was pressing down from the sky.

I looked up.

A mass of darkness hung above me, twisted into the beams of the bar, and in that shadow, eyes opened up with pupils as big as my face, every single one finding my own.

I screamed, running to the door as the ceiling fell in a waterfall, slamming on the wood behind me. I slammed the door open, then closed behind me, the sunlight weak against my skin as the bar shook in a roar. It got louder as I grabbed my bike, pushing it as I threw myself on, Jacky leaping and clinging to my dress.

The groan turned into terrible thunder, and I looked over my shoulder to see the doors exploding outwards and black sludge flying out in a river of darkness and eyes. An arm pushed out of the mass, swiping in my direction.

I pedaled hard, ducking my head as sludge shot past me, one hitting a fence that turned black and melted into itself. Another brushed a tree, the leaves dying and falling off.

The moan rattled my bike, and I held tight, the wheels twisting and slowing me down.

“No! Come on!”

I risked another glance behind me, the monster tumbling over itself to chase me, arms slapping at the road.

Jacky’s paws hit my shoulder and passed my head, jumping off with his cheeks bright.

“Jacky!”

I pulled my bike hard, and the bike swept out from under me, continuing and crashing as my feet hit the ground. Static filled the air and then Jacky sparked, throwing a Thunder Shock at the mass, and it didn’t even reach as I grabbed Jacky then turned around to run. Crim laid in the middle of the road, and I swept it into my arms as I ran to the closest building- Joe’s Store.

The Meditite stood in front and as it saw me, it waved its arms wildly, as if to get me to go away.

“Help!” I screamed at it, and it pushed open the door, disappearing inside. Before the door closed, my hand reached it and I slammed it open, the back hitting a shelf and rattling the glass. I didn’t stop running until I reached the frozen section, and I looked back outside to see the monster still on the road. It wasn’t moving, its eyes locked onto something I couldn’t see.

The door closed, and the Meditite grabbed a nearby shelf, placing it in front of the door. Then it spun towards me, jabbing its finger at the monster.

“It attacked me!” I said hotly. “It- there were people!” I knelt down to put Crim on the floor but remained there, breathing between my knees. Jacky slipped out of my hand, his cheeks lighting up as he got between me and the Meditite.

My head rushed, and I closed my eyes, the room spinning. Something pressed against my head, and I opened one eye to see the Meditite pressing a lukewarm soda to me. I took it, my hands trembling as I popped the lid and downed it. The bolt of energy was unlike anything, and I drank half before setting it down.

“Thank you,” I told the Meditite, but it went back to the door, watching the monster. Once I got my bearings, I followed it. “What is that? Is it a Pokemon?”

The Meditite made no reply. The monster hadn’t moved, and eventually my eyes wandered to the rest of the store.

It was mostly empty, just a few items left including my chips, but it looked clean. My shoes made a mess of the floor, and made a further mess as I walked to the cash register. Charts and signs hung above it on the wall, and when I tried circling the register, the Meditite grabbed my leg and then pushed me away. I let it, Jacky climbing up my leg to my shoulder, his cheeks still glowing, but I felt no static or sparks.

“Do you live here?” I asked the Meditite while it got a broom and began sweeping up the dirt I brought in. “Is the owner your trainer?”

I repeated this until the Meditite dropped the broom and jumped onto the chair behind the register. It pointed to a chart that read:

_Joe – Owner/Cash._

_Lia – Stock._

“You…” I watched as it pointed to the last name. “Oh, you’re an employee?”

She nodded, and resumed her sweeping up.

That made sense. I was planning to steal from here, but I felt a loss of words as I watched her. “My name’s Vi. Have you- Have you just been here all this time then? Didn’t everyone go somewhere else?”

Lia made no reply, so I went back to the frozen aisle to get Crim. I wanted those chips, but it seemed unimportant now. I didn’t want to steal from the store, and I left Kat’s wallet in the house with my bag. I wasn’t hungry anyways. Had those really been skeletons at the bar? Maybe they were fake, but then who put them there?

Something else caught my attention, but I couldn’t figure out what. My eyes scanned the store and the in-tact glass in the windows.

This place was like the bar. Looked after. _Protected_.

Even the bones inside the bar had looked kept. Not the- life, but the clothes and everything else. Even if the monster didn’t hurt them, though, it could still hurt me.

 _I should use the backdoor and go back to the house_.

But…

“That thing won’t wait there forever,” I told Lia. “You can’t stay here-”

The Meditite gave me a fierce glare and pointed again at the chart.

“But you’ll _die_.”

Lia ignored me. She swept alone, in this store everyone else had abandoned.

“Lia-”

A roar cut through the air, and my back hit the warm freezer door. Lia dropped her broom, and looked at her hands, clenching them before raising her head as the monster started to slide towards the store.

“You can’t fight it!” I told her. “Come on!”

Lia shook her head, and in that moment I knew she would never abandon the store. My eyes followed hers to the monster.

I placed Crim down, opened the fridge door, pulled out the last water bottle, and then kicked open the back door. I ran outside, cracking open the lid of the water as I circled the store. Jacky chattered in my ear, cheeks glowing brighter.

“Hey!” I yelled at the monster. Its one hundred eyes turned to me. “Over here!”

Its arms pawed the earth, and it’s roar shook the sky as I turned around and ran away from it and the store.

Never had I run so fast, twigs catching my dress and breaking under my stride. I didn’t have to look behind me, I could hear the rumbling, and I concentrated just on running and keeping the water bottle from spilling. The bushes opened up onto a road, and I turned left towards the intersection with the bar on my right, its door still open. My lungs burned, but I didn’t want to outrun it. It just needed to _go away_.

I sprayed the water over the road, creating a stream or a line of gunpowder fifteen feet long. At the end I placed Jacky down.

“When I say so,” I told him, and the glow from his cheeks surrounded him. _What’s that_ …?

The monster met the road, pouring onto it, eyes looking each direction before they found me. My courage failed me, but I took in Jacky’s ready stance and let out a breath. The monster cried out, its mouth a dripping hole as reached out, and the pressure hit my skull, of grief and confusion.

When it touched the water, I yelled and pointed.

“Thunder Shock!”

Light burst from Jacky, a massive lightning bolt finding the water and jumping across it and onto the monster. It cried out, mass contracting and eyes squeezing shut, and I didn’t stop.

“Thunder Shock! Thunder Shock! Thunder Shock!”

Again and again electricity hit the monster, growing weaker as the light around Jacky dimmed and the water burned away. At the last, I grabbed Jacky, even as static ran up my arms and into my hair. My heart skipped with his aura- and stopped when the monster blindly threw out a hand, just missing the top of my head. I fell back, and all the eyes opened, finding me. If Jacky caused any damage, I couldn’t see it, and my plan to paralyze or drive the monster away died.

All that was left was to flee. But I couldn’t move, on the ground with my Dedenne in my hands. The monster rose to its tallest height, fifteen feet of darkness, despair, and poison.

My voice was small.

“Jacky-”

A blue wave slammed into the monster and it flinched, twisting around as Lia stepped forward, palm up, and with a fire extinguisher in her other hand. She let loose another wave, the monster recoiling- and then roared, the sound rattling my head.

I scrambled away, off the road and to the grass, and only then could I stand up. I pushed Jacky onto my shoulder and I looked through the grass for a stick or something. _I need to help Lia_ -

The monster spat out balls of sludge, the force weak, the first two missing Lia and landing not that far away. As she looked behind her, the third lobbed right at her head, but her eyes glowed and her body seemed to snap to the side in a burst of speed.

I found a screwdriver in the grass and grabbed it, even as I thought, _This won’t work_.

But I had nothing else, and I ran back towards the monster, only for Lia to raise a hand at me. I stopped in my tracks. Her eyes slid past the monster and to the bar, her palm following, and with a short, hard stab, the wave flew out in a sharp burst like a bullet. It collided with one of the motorcycles, and it crashed into the one next to it, falling down a thunder that had the monster freezing. Every eye turned to the bikes, and it slid off the road and to the bikes, enveloping them in darkness.

Lia followed it, pointing the nozzle of the fire extinguisher and sending a spray of water and form at the back of the monster. It shuddered, covering the motorcycles and then poured through the open door of the bar, taking the bikes with it. Lia sprayed the sludge remaining until it was all through, and when she reached the door, she shoved it closed.

At that, she rejoined me on the road, ushering me up the street as I still clutched the screwdriver with Jacky clinging to my shoulder.

“Is that it?” I asked her, to no response.

The monster was back in the bar, but the feeling it left remained, worse this time. I didn’t know what happened to create the monster, but it loved that bar and those bikes. And yet-

“Lia, you’re so smart. I’d never have thought of those bikes!”

Lia ducked her head, but I caught the blush.

“You really saved us. Thank you!”

She walked a bit faster, as if trying to escape the compliments. I followed her, not easily defeated, though I had been, hadn’t I? Relief mixed with disappointment, but I didn’t know what else I could have done.

But that wasn’t good enough. If I was going to save Kat, I needed to try harder. I would need to beat Jade and Ira, and I would need to _find_ them.

But how?

 _That person’s name… token… won_ …

Won… Or had it been ‘ _one’_?

It laced through my mind like lightning, but I didn’t say anything. Anticipation lightened my step, and the future laid out like a path. Maybe this was how Arthur saw things.

At the end of it, the ultimate challenge waited, but I wasn’t strong enough, so I would have to get stronger.

I looked at Lia, considering.

On the roof of Joe’s Store was a Pidgey.

Many Pidgey lived in Towering Forest, most living alone, but some were part of something larger, a group protected from strong enemies like Fearow. This Pidgey watched me with more interest than I had ever seen on a bird. Then it took to the sky, flying down the road and back towards the forest.

I watched it as it disappeared into the distance, and ran into the store to retrieve Crim. Then I found my bike. The monster hadn’t touched it, even as it killed the grass surrounding the road. It almost looked cleaner, but maybe it liked all bikes.

“I have to follow it!” I yelled to Lia. “I’ll be back!”

Lia made no farewell as I rode off, and I could barely see anything but the road in front of me and what lied at the end. The town whipped past until there was more trees than houses and until I passed the red mailbox.

But no farther.

When I turned the corner, a Pidgeot waited for me.

I jumped off my bike and threw my arms around her neck.

“Sora!”

She nuzzled my hair with her beak, and tears gathered in my eyes.

“I thought you were _dead_.”

When I found the strength to let go, I saw the damage. She had lost a tail feather, with the rest singled, and clumps of feathers were missing in places, more gray and black. Her escort of Pidgeotto looked worse, and there didn’t seem to be as many of them.

“I’m really sorry!” I told Sora, and she trilled. “Do you know where Kat went?”

Sora looked down, and I withheld the disappointment.

“I think- _maybe_ \- they took her to One Island,” I said. “Could- could you take me there? And help me? We could fight and get Kat back-”

Sora looked to her dwindling flock, all injured in some way. All needing help.

“Kat needs help too!”

But Sora only stood there, looking at me.

Anger built within me.

“But you’re her-”

But she wasn’t. Kat had let her go, to live her life. I hadn’t got it until now, hadn’t understood, and it wasn’t _fair_.

 _And what if she’s not at One Island? Should I just keep bringing Sora with me until I find her? When would that be_?

The anger went out with a whoosh, leaving just bitterness. Sora might as well have died if she wasn’t going to help.

But that wasn’t fair either. I loved Sora too.

I raised my head.

“Could you at least fly me there?”

At this, Sora spread her wings, and the date was set.

It was already past noon, too late to leave, but I had things to do. I picked up my bag at the house with the red mailbox, and I spent three hours combing the other houses for things I needed, keeping well away from the bar.

A new backpack was first, a proper one and bigger. Then whatever food or medicine I could find, but the houses had already been raided. By Kat, probably, and she didn’t leave much for me. One house contained different maps of the Sevii Islands and I took what seemed important. I collected spare Poke Balls too, though this wasn’t a trainer town. No TMs. No Pokemon supplies really. Even the fishing rods I found were broken and faulty from disuse.

But I found a pair of shorts, a bit big for me, but I tied the drawstring tight. Then a new shirt, red and sleeveless, which my blue necklace looked nice against. The gold sunhat was just as pretty on my head, and I reluctantly packed more socks. I still didn’t like wearing shoes, but they fit and it was better than stepping on glass.

Lastly, I went to Joe’s Store.

Lia was sweeping in front, and I raised a hand, holding Kat’s wallet.

“I want to buy some things!”

Lia circled the counter to operate the register, and then stared at me as I dumped every single item left in the store. Back in Pallet, this much food would be a great weekend that would leave me throwing up, but here was an opportunity.

I placed Kat’s money on the counter and Lia counted carefully. The register didn’t run on electricity, but when no receipt spat out, Lia hit it.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not returning anything.”

I swept everything in a spare bag, and it was a good weight in my hand. I smiled at Lia.

“I guess you’re closed now. So… will you come with me?”

Lia pointed at the chart with her name. I gestured at the shelves.

“There’s no more stock! Nothing to protect. Just lock the door.” When she made no reply, I continued, “I’m going to One Island. I need to find my sister. I don’t know where Joe went, but he’s your boss, right? If he’s not on One Island, he’s probably on another island. We can go look for him and bring him back. So you can start selling again.”

She hopped off the chair and padded down the aisles, but didn’t seem to be looking at anything. Her shoulders hunched.

“I know you’ve been alone,” I said softly, kneeling down, the shopping bag beside me, “I’m alone now too. We’re both looking for people, so we should join together. No one’s going to come back on their own. We need to rescue them. Lia- will you please come with me?”

The Meditite turned and looked at me.

By the next morning, I had finished three bags of potato chips, an expired chocolate bar, and a full bottle of flat soda. When I saw Sora standing in the middle of the road outside of Joe’s Store, my stomach gave a jump, to protest my stupid food choices.

I didn’t regret it at all, especially the second bag around my waist that carried the leftover junk food I wanted to eat. My backpack was loose around my shoulders, the straps tightened as far as they would go. Jacky sat on one of the straps, and though I couldn’t feel Crim through the canvas of the backpack, it would always be with me.

Lia stood at Sora’s feet, having brought nothing but herself.

“Ready?” I said to her, parking the bike in front of her store and giving it a pat goodbye. In the window, the sign was flipped to CLOSED. I looked at Sora, who lowered so I could climb onto her back. Even though I was eleven, she was still so big, and I helped Lia get settled in front of me. “Thanks for coming.”

Lia turned her head, but said nothing as she looked forward again. I returned Jacky to his Ultra Ball and stored him safely away.

Sora spread her wings and I held on tight as she took off. Wind flowed through my hair as the town got smaller under me. The space in front of the bar was still empty, and soon it and the other roofs became lost amongst the trees. Beyond the cliffs, Towering Forest stood tall, bigger than anything on Three Island, yet we flew higher.

Even beyond that, far, far in the distance, a mountain loomed. I didn’t know what I’d find there, but I’d rescue my sister, no matter what.

So I kept my gaze locked on that distant shore.

To the future and whatever it might bring.


	7. Interlude A

It was evening when Jade came again. She pushed open the door with an elbow, her hands full, and nodded at the Bisharp before dumping the sandwich and water bottle on the desk. She had evidently learned not to give Kat throwing material.

“I’m sorry for the wait, Kat,” Jade said, sitting on the desk chair. “It’s been slow going out there.”

Kat said nothing from the bed. The handcuffs had been removed hours ago, but her fingers still crept to the bruises around her wrists. Worse was the pounding in her head, of a nightmare still ongoing.

After another moment, Jade said, “Is there anything I can do for you while I’m here? Any questions-”

“Fuck off.”

Kat’s voice came out hoarse, and Jade didn’t blink.

“I did before, but it doesn’t seem to have done us any good.”

 _Annoying brat_. Though Jade was older than her, her designer clothing and behavior spoke everything that needed to be said. This was no trainer, or someone who would even attempt to be one.

Yet she strived for something even Pokemon Masters wouldn’t dare.

Jade sighed.

“If you helped us, I would be able to bring you back to Three Island quicker. Isn’t that what you want?”

The smallest reminder of her little sister had Kat close her eyes, but only briefly. She wouldn’t get distracted from the point.

“I’m not helping you.”

“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want your help.” Jade leaned back in her chair, lips pulling down the silvery scars on her left cheek. “But you won’t give us the Token, so you have to be here. Your presence is enough to buy us entry into the Shrines, but I’d prefer if you helped us willingly.”

She could prefer anything she wanted, it would never get past the final fact:

“You killed Arthur,” Kat said, “You think I’ll do _anything_ to help you? Just go and die. That’s all I have to say to you.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Jade replied with the fakest look of sorrow. “He died when your home fell. I’m sorry I can’t bring you proof, but I didn’t hurt him.”

Kat couldn’t remember the Fort falling, just her arm around Arthur’s neck, his psychic energy filling her lungs as their home circled around them. Then flashes: a cave, fire, and finally waking up in this cabin with nothing but two psychopaths and a Bisharp for company.

Yes, Alakazam were physically frail, but Arthur wouldn’t fall unconscious because their Fort fell. Something made him fall first.

“You were going to!” Kat reminded Jade sharply, because what a negotiation it was. Kat would trust Vi to do better than Jade.

“Yes, but I gave you a choice, and despite that, you fought anyways and for no reason.” An edge entered Jade’s voice. “You placed seventh in a Pokemon League Tournament; you knew you couldn’t beat a Volcarona. Especially with a dark-type on the field. What other outcome was there? I chose to fight, yes, but so did you.”

“Are you blaming _me_?”

“No, but we have to live with our decisions. I know you hate me and think I’m an idiot. For someone who left the competitive circuit, you have that same elitist attitude. The world isn’t made up of just trainers and non-trainers. _We have the same goal_.”

“No, we don’t.”

Their first conversation proved that.

Kat sat straighter, and the Bisharp met her eyes in a warning glare. She scoffed at it, and turned to Jade.

“When did you teach your Altaria Fly?” Kat said.

Jade made no reaction.

“Years ago.”

“Before or after the Kahale Report?”

“Right after, but I didn’t believe it at the time.”

The line was practiced, like she had said it many times, and the anger it drew from Kat felt all new.

“Even though it said HMs cause _brain damage_?”

“HMs were around for twenty years. I regret I taught Seraph that, but did you believe it when it came out?”

 _Yes_. Another point for the trainer community. It had been rumored for years HMs hurt Pokemon and that Machine Co. was covering it up to prevent profits, but the extent wasn’t known until the Aloha Pokemon League had published the report.

Kat was lucky. Sora was big enough to carry her on her own, but almost every trainer and civilian either owned HM Fly or knew someone who had taught it to a Pokemon. And why not? The HM allowed any flying Pokemon to become a convenient transportation. If they seemed a bit off afterwards, well, trainers didn’t use those Pokemon to battle, and it was so useful.

“How is your Altaria?” Kat said. “Does it know more than four moves? Or can it do anything without you telling it to?”

“You’re trying to make me angry,” Jade replied. “I don’t appreciate it, but Seraph is fine. Mild damage. She was in a clinic for three months for assessment.”

“And you still use her to Fly?”

“Do you want me to throw her away? Put her out to pasture? It’s not a kind world out there, Kat. Things have changed. I don’t expect you to know about it, hiding in a forest for two years. But I want to make the world right, and so do you. We need to help each other, and until you see that, I can’t do much for you.”

“Then we’re on the same page.” Kat glared. “Because I’m not doing anything for you.”

Jade sighed again, and stood up, back straight.

“Then I’ll give you another choice: don’t make me go back for your sister. Please don’t make me.”

She nodded at the Bisharp, and left. Kat found herself on her feet, hands clenched and blood pumping. She wanted to deck Jade so hard, but the Bisharp glared at her, arms crossed as it leaned against the wall. Her jailor and not one she could beat- not yet.

So Kat sat back on the bed. The window faced a mountain, but Jade and Ira worked well away from her line of sight. A soft breeze rustled the blinds, leaves dancing outside her window.

Kat refused to think of her sister, so she didn’t. Instead, she reviewed like she did before all of her tourney battles: what she knew, what she thought would happen, and what result she wanted. Escape was the biggest goal, and either killing Jade and Ira then or later when she regrouped with her Pokemon. She had heard nothing about Hunter or Sora, not even as a backhanded apology like with Arthur, so she would assume they were alive.

 _And Vi. Vi has to be alive_.

The opposing Pokemon weren’t a huge deal. The Volcarona couldn’t attack without hurting everyone else, and it wasn’t well-trained; Kat had spied Ira on its back when it was using Bug Buzz. That was a huge risk, so she had to be present to keep the Volcarona from getting off-track. The Bisharp was more threatening, and so was the third Pokemon that Kat could only guess at. At least Jade’s Pokemon weren’t worth thinking about, but it’d be stupid to completely ignore them.

And yet-

She squeezed her eyes shut, holding her head.

 _Why, why did everything turn out like this? I was so careful_ …

Not enough. It was never good enough. Not to the League, not to her parents, and not to Vi and Arthur.

 _Not even to John_.

Her parents had her early, an accidental baby amidst the potential of two bright careers as Professor’s Aides. And that potential shined as Kat was raised by a series of babysitters, neighbors, and John’s family, whose son was her best and only friend. Even when Vi was born, cherished in a way Kat was pushed aside, all she cared about was travelling with John.

So they left on their journeys together, travelled, battled, and won badges. But John had that Pallet Town spark, to choose the right Pokemon and moves, to make friends and rivals without trying. Kat hadn’t placed in the Indigo League Tournament, but at eleven years old in the Beginner’s Division, John placed third. Acclaim came easy to him, even as Kat’s own parents drifted further away when she stopped calling, because why bother? Conversations with nothing to say, and Vi wasn’t available most of the time.

All she needed was John. And Arthur and Sora, and her other Pokemon at the time.

For two years after, they travelled Johto, with Silvia and Greg, new starry-eyed Johto trainers. Then came the incident. Frederick Soma. The fame. Then the Johto Tournament, where Kat placed eighth. Her star was rising-

Then fell.

“ _Why didn’t you tell me_?” John had said alone in the Pokemon Center, after it was all over. “I could have helped. We’re supposed to be partners.”

“ _It wasn’t your choice_ ,” she had replied, because he would have tried to change their mind. And if not, then he would fall too. “ _It was Arthur’s_.”

It wasn’t the same after that. When their Johto visas expired, they went different ways. John to Sinnoh to conquer the League there, and Kat accepted a job offer from Professor Birch in Hoenn. It was grunt work, but she was barred from the tourney scene, and the weather was rather nice. John stopped calling. That was okay. Vi never replied to her letters, but how could she? That was okay too.

It was all okay.

She still remembered the evening two years ago, when her phone rang. It had been her day off, and she had spent it with her friends in Lilycove City. The sun had barely set, the autumn evening cool as her friends went into the crowded coffee shop to place their orders.

“ _Kat_!” John had said, and Kat remembered her smile dropping. “ _Please listen. You have to go_!”

 _Is this serious_? she had thought as he told her what had happened, a tale she still only half-believed. Of curiosity. Of anger. Of hate. And a mistake that changed everything.

She had looked across the plaza filled with lingering and happy people, to the calm oceans and skies. Her shopping bags filled with clothes sat at her feet, her nails recently done, and a stuffed Pichu in her friend’s bag waiting to be packed up and mailed to her sister.

“ _Please, Kat_ ,” John had whispered. “ _I can’t get out_.”

So Kat had left. She left her shopping bags and her friends, texting them once, before releasing Sora to fly her to the Pokemon Center where she grabbed what was necessary. Then with her phone ringing off the hook from the friends she never spoke to again, Kat flew to Pallet Town.

Kat could never make it up to John for his warning, not when he was dead or worse, but she could at least do this. Prevent Jade from making the mistake that started everything. Kat had never killed anyone in cold blood before, not even a Pokemon before they came to Three Island.

This was different.

Everyone, including Vi, would be safer once these people were dead.

That night, she slept in fistfuls, the room cooling in the night air, colder than it would ever get on Three Island. The Bisharp was in the same place when she awoke, with the same glare. _Like Hunter_. But Kat pushed that away.

The bedroom was bare of personal items, abandoned long ago, though Kat couldn’t say what day it was. Not having been under Hypnosis for so long.

That morning, Ira brought her breakfast. She raised an eyebrow when she saw dinner left on the desk.

“Still sulking?” Ira said in that Unova accent, leaning against the wall in a mirror of her Pokemon. She broke open the bag of chips she had brought for Kat and began eating it.

Kat didn’t care.

“What do you want?”

“I’m bored,” Ira said. “Jade’s got a head for all these runes and languages, but all I do is stand there. It’s slow and hot.”

“I’m not helping you.”

“Why not? It’s why you’ve hidden away on these islands, right? We’re really doing your work for you.”

 _That was Arthur’s work_! Kat’s fists clenched under the blanket until she uncurled them, a breath escaping clenched teeth. _Concentrate_.

“What is she paying you?” Kat asked Ira, who looked surprised.

“Can’t I be a friend?”

Kat motioned to the black and red flag hanging from Ira’s belt.

“You’re part of Chrome. Chrome doesn’t work for free.”

Ira put a hand to her chin. “That’s true, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t outbid her.”

Kat knew that, but stared at the flag. Silvia had talked about Chrome, this mercenary organization founded in Unova and made up of dishonored trainers. Criminals and outlaws, all of them, but each hand-picked by their leader to be the strongest in their craft. They were blamed for terrorist attacks, assassinations, and other endeavors, especially after they branched out internationally, but never did they take credit. Still, their flag remained in newspapers and on the internet, propped up by rumors and gossip.

One look into Ira’s cold, amused eyes gave truth to all the infamy.

_She’s a killer, and she doesn’t care whether I live or die. She’ll do whatever Jade says and never think about it again._

She also was an expert trainer. Who else would have such a rare and dangerous Pokemon like a Volcarona?

But in that alone was an opportunity.

“You know what she’s trying to do,” Kat said instead. Trainers spoke a different language and lived by different rules. Some things were blasphemy. “Do you support that?”

“I support getting paid, it’s my favorite thing.” Ira smiled, but it wasn’t pretty. Hanging in the air was a feeling Kat couldn’t name, a tension that grew stronger when Ira looked at her. “I like not having to live in the woods, like you’ve been doing. Is that really the best you could have done?”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a town on Three Island. Why not live there? Why live in Three Island at all? Jade thinks you can help, but if can’t even help yourself, I don’t get what use you’d be.”

_Is she trying to figure out what I was doing?_

Jade must have put her up to it.

“The town’s rotten,” Kat said. “A Pokemon went insane there and became a dark-type. It attacks everything, but the rest of the island is safe.”

“And you couldn’t remove the Pokemon with your Alakazam’s fancy powers?”

“No,” Kat replied shortly. She had thought about, gone to town in the first few months to do that, but the grief-

Where would that Pokemon go after? She didn’t need to live in the town. That was its home. The only one thing living there was the Meditite, but it refused Kat’s offers unless she was trying to buy something.

Vi and her, they were fine by themselves. The Fort wasn’t ideal, but it was home. And far away from anything that could try to find them.

_And now Vi’s alone there. If Hunter and Sora are dead-_

“I’m surprised.” Ira pushed off the wall, and Kat looked up, stiffening at that cat-like grace as Ira circled the room to open the window wider. “I saw you on TV. The Pokemon League is all useless sport, but you had character to you. You actually cared about your Pokemon. None of those career battlers would ever throw everything away for their toys. I admired that.”

She leaned into the breeze, the picture of control.

“You’re more pathetic than I thought,” Ira said.

“Because I chose to _fight_?” Kat stood up, inches shorter than Ira and not as strong, but she wouldn’t be insulted by Jade’s pet mercenary.

Ira laughed, and looked down at her. “No. I’d fight too, to protect the things I cared about. But you’re a _fangirl_. That’s always a disappointment.”

“What’s a ‘fangirl’?” Kat couldn’t figure out the context, but when Ira’s lips only curled, she finally named the feeling that had been hanging around the whole conversation.

 _Contempt_.

Ira hated her.

“I haven’t done anything to you,” Kat said, and Ira blinked.

“No. Not to me.”

Ira crumpled the chip bag, tossing it into the waste bin. Her hand touched the door, when she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

“Was it worth it? Staying here for two years like this?”

Many answers pressed against Kat’s throat, of what she should say, what Ira wanted to hear, but all that came out was the truth.

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Ira looked away. “How selfish of you.”

Kat grabbed and chucked an empty water bottle at her and it bounced against the closing door. The door clicked shut then locked, and the Bisharp made a small, warning sound.

“Fuck off!” she told it, pacing and too angry to sit back down, or eat, or do anything that she should be doing.

Two days Vi had been all alone, and Kat was still stuck in this room.

_I’m not getting out. I can’t escape. If I do, they’ll kidnap Vi. They’ll kill Hunter and Sora if they’re not already dead._

She wanted to kill Jade. Wanted it so much, but she wasn’t getting anywhere like this. But if she helped them in any way, Jade would get her wish, and these two years would be a waste. Maybe even make everything worse.

Kat hadn’t been trying to save the world, but she couldn’t do _nothing_.

She stopped in the middle of the floor, and closed her eyes.

_You can’t do this anymore. What’s most important?_

Vi’s smile came to mind, the beam when Kat handed her the crimson egg, how she obviously wasn’t listening when Kat told her to be very careful with the egg. Her childish rivalry with Hunter, her adoration of Arthur, her fondness for Sora- the face whenever Vi climbed the ladder and saw Kat there, waiting to hear of all her adventures.

One day Vi would leave her, be a trainer, follow her dreams, but if Kat could have one thing, one wish, she wanted that future to be _later_. Let Vi stay awhile longer. Let Kat watch her grow up. Kat had no power to grant that wish, but she would do anything to make it come true.

For now, Vi needed her.

And sitting in this room would get Kat nowhere.

When Jade came to her with dinner, she found Kat sitting on the bed, all the previous brought food eaten.

“Let me out of this room,” Kat said.

Jade put the dinner down on the desk, but remained standing.

“Are you going to help?” Jade said.

“Prove to me this is a good idea.”

“I can’t.”

Jade walked over and sat next to Kat on the bed. It took all of Kat’s control not to recoil and to keep her face blank.

“I’d be lying if I said yes,” Jade continued, “but what other ideas are there? The world’s changed. There’s no more harmony, and there won’t be any more again- unless we do something. I know you hoped to just ask and accept any answer, but we can do more. We can try more.”

“You think I’d fail?”

“It’s possible, but with me here, there will be no more failure.”

She said it with the confidence of knowing everything, and for a moment, Kat allowed herself to believe it. Allowed that there could be an easy answer out there.

But only for a moment.

Jade was still speaking.

“You have a Token, you have that curse of responsibility. I don’t know where you’ve hidden it, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll bring it out once we’ve solved all three Shrines. We’ll make this right.”

Warm hands grasped hers, and Kat leaned back as Jade looked into her eyes. The silvery scars covered the left side of her face, her left eye discolored with broken veins. The mark of a Legendary.

“Please,” Jade whispered. “Help me, Kat.”

Kat’s hands remained loose under hers, and quietly, Kat said,

“You swear that you didn’t kill Arthur? Or Ira didn’t, or any of your Pokemon? You swear it was an accident?”

And Jade stared in her eyes and said:

“Yes.”

They drew apart as Jade helped Kat to her feet. With a nod, the Bisharp opened the door and left the room, leaving the door wide. Kat gently unhooked herself from Jade.

“I don’t know how much help I can be,” Kat told her, “but I’ll try. I just want to go back to my sister.”

“We’ll go as fast as we can. And I know you’ll be a huge help.” As Jade led her out the door, she turned to her and said, “I’m sorry about your Alakazam.”

Kat lowered her head, sadness entering her voice.

“It’s alright.”

And underneath, the rage:

 _You will be_.


	8. Chapter 8

The town was in ruins. I could tell that much from the sky.

On Three Island, I could see Mt. Ember from the treetops, and it only grew bigger as Sora approached. Hundreds of years ago, it erupted, spitting ash as far as Johto destroying the people that lived around it. But in its wake, trees and flowers took root in the soil, creating lush vistas off One Island and leading up Kindle Road to Mt. Ember. So beautiful it was, Moltres claimed it for its second home, and pride followed Moltres, both in its plumage and the people who loved it so much. They built the town on One Island in its honor, and people flocked from all over the world to get the chance to see Moltres wing across the sky. Only the strongest trainers attempted to challenge it, but never had one succeeded.

It was the only thing I remembered from history class, and it was no longer true.

Blackened and burnt buildings dotted the side of the cliff, the waves reclaiming the docks and the marina already pulled half-way out to sea. No trees stood on the island, no grass, no green, just ashen stone, and the waters between the rocks choppy gray.

Yet Mt. Ember stood, smoke clinging to its face, but not from the summit. Where it was coming from I couldn’t tell, and Sora circled the town, wings flapping.

“They can’t be in town,” I said. “There’s nothing there.”

I didn’t like the smoke, but I pointed to the mountain.

“Go there! I want to see.”

Wind rushed through my hair, and I leaned down to Lia’s ear.

“Are you okay?”

Lia nodded, but had looked green ever since Sora took off. I kept my arms braced on either side of her, to make her feel better and to keep her in place. She was a fighting-type, but she was so much littler than me. I had to protect her.

The smoke grew darker the closer we came, but not the smokey gray of a volcano; more like a housefire or things burning. The smell wafted up and I put a hand over my nose, the stench watering my eyes. I couldn’t see through it, and even the summit was hidden by clouds.

I didn’t know where they took Kat, but the only place that seemed important was the summit. Maybe they were trying to see Moltres?

“There, Sora!”

But when I pointed to the clouds, Sora only circled the Mt. Ember, watching the cloud carefully. When they didn’t part, she cried out, and I held on tight as she drew up and flapped her wings. Wind gathered under her feathers and blew in a hurricane, the clouds recoiling and withdrawing. I glimpsed a shot of black ground, and Sora dove. I leaned down, caging Lia with my body, my arms tight around Sora’s neck as clouds shot by us. Wet air slapped my bare arms and head, and then Sora spread her wings, pulling up.

Rain hit my hair, gray mist closing around us, wet and empty rock as far as I could see. Sora landed on the summit, and I slid off her back.

“Stay here,” I told Lia, and placed my hands over my head to protect myself from the rain as I walked across the summit. The rocky plain stretched no more than fifty feet apart, rocks breaking up the plain gray stone. I looked around the rocks, not sure what I was looking for. Kat tied up? Moltres?

There was nothing here.

I found a staircase between two rocks, leading down into the gloom, and below that, so far below it could have been the ocean, black smoke. I couldn’t smell anything from here. _The rain’s protecting this place._

I returned to Sora. She looked at me, and I hesitated.

Once Sora left, I couldn’t call her back, and I didn’t know if she’d come back. I could stay here on this summit, or go somewhere else on One Island. Or a different island. Or-

Pallet Town.

 _Kat’s on One Island_ , I told myself. _She has to be_. If I was going to Pallet Town, she was coming too. So if I was going to stay on One Island, where should I start looking? It didn’t take long to decide, but I also didn’t like the answer.

“You can let us off here,” I told Sora, and helped Lia down. She stood beside me, and I raised my arm to try to cover her from the rain. “If we’re going to look, we should start here.”

It would be easier to go down the mountain than up. Even with the smoke, it was worse the higher up you were, so _therefore_ , going down would make it easier to handle.

It felt shaky. But I didn’t have anything else.

Sora pressed her beak into my hair, and I rubbed her neck in the way she liked. Then she took to the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

I stood there a moment, waiting for a sign that maybe she changed her mind, but when the rain grew harder, I looked down at Lia.

“Let’s go looking.”

Five minutes in, I discovered wet stairs were slippery no matter what direction you were going. Ten minutes in, I rediscovered that rain sucked and it should go away. One hour in, I knew I made a mistake.

I sat with Lia under an overhang, water pooling around my legs and draining into the cracks in the stone. Lia remained standing, having refused my lap, instead watching the rain with crossed arms. I held my sunhat, little protection for this weather, but anything to keep dry. The chill of the rain kept a shiver across my arms, but none so cold as the dread growing in the back of my head.

I had never been on a mountain before. Pallet Town was just grassy fields and farmland, and Viridian was a normal city with fairs and shows and stores that I wanted to buy everything in. When my parents and I went to go watch Kat in the Indigo League Tournament, a licensed teleporter had used his Kadabra to Teleport us past Victory Road. Only trainers with eight gym battles could go there anyways, but I always imagined sneaking past the door and catching a Rhyhorn.

But mountains weren’t straight lines up and down. They weren’t one staircase. They were peaks and plunges, of sharp rocks and boulders I couldn’t get around. Nothing marked the path or indicated it, and even the stairs seemed half-hearted, almost invisible in the rain or so steep I couldn’t see them looking down.

Searching was impossible. Too many crevasses, and though I hadn’t seen a cave, I was sure I had walked past ten. I was only on one side of the mountain. Even if there was no path at all on the other side, who’s to say Kat wasn’t taken that way?

I craned my neck, looking past the overhang to the summit, hanging only thirty feet above me. It took this long to get down this far, and my palms still stung from when I lowered myself down a few feet from a cliff.

Lia still watched the rain, and my heart ached. _She must think I’m so stupid_.

“Are you okay?” I asked, and she glanced at me, face impassive as ever. “I know we’re being slow…”

But she shook her head, and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet like I weighed nothing. She pointed into the mists, and at my hesitation, gestured to my feet and then forward.

“You want to get going?”

She nodded.

I was still tired, but she was right. The more I did nothing, the more time Jade and Ira had to take Kat further away.

 _If they were ever here_.

Halfway through the day, I released Jacky, and he stretched and then perched on my shoulder as we looked. Whenever he jumped off to explore on his own, I let him for a few minutes before calling him back. He always came, but it was so small, that power. But to be a trainer, a Pokemon had to listen to you, or at least listen to orders that weren’t called out.

Especially when we weren’t alone here.

If rock or ground-types lived here, the water had washed them all underground. Instead I found Barbroach in pools of rainwater, large and fat, but quick to scatter whenever I came close. Red eyes followed us through the mist until Lia threw a wave at them, but they always came back. Once, I heard hooves clopping against the stone, like a horse-drawn carriage wheeled towards us, but just before it came on us, it disappeared and I never found it.

“Something’s wrong,” I said, when we stopped for the night. Darkness set in quickly, though never the inky black of the smoke just below us. I could see it from our cave, the small enclosure that led no where but a tunnel that grew too small for even me to fit. “Should it be raining here?”

I had been thinking it ever since we got here, but that wasn’t right. I was thinking it when I found out the Towering Forest was on Three Island. I didn’t know much about the Sevii Islands, but none of it felt right. The forest, the mountain, the rain-

And the Pokemon.

Kat had once explained region-specific Pokemon. Only trainers could catch Pokemon from outside their home region, they got a special license. Regions were very protective of their Pokemon, but especially against foreign Pokemon that were brought inside their borders. I didn’t really get it, but Kanto was like that too.

I had never heard of a Dedenne before Towering Forest. Misdreavus sometimes screamed at night, and they weren’t Kanto Pokemon. Neither were the Barbroach here, or whatever those red eyes were.

I knew the world had been hurt. I hadn’t known it had been changed.

My hand brushed Crim as I dug into my bag of chips, but the salt made me thirstier, so I compromised with some soda. Jacky climbed up my arm, looking for more food, so I handed him the biggest potato chip, which he took back to the Thunder Stone.

My shoulders ached from where the straps of my bag had dug in, and I rubbed them, watching Lia. Her eyes were closed, legs crossed, and a blue glow encircled her body. I had food ready for her when she was hungry, but my appetite waned.

I felt stupid. Worse, useless. Like the time Kat got poisoned and all I could do was hold her hand and wait for Arthur to fix things. Kat had been sick for days, and then weeks after recovering, and Arthur wasn’t here anymore. I wasn’t going to be that useless again; I could do more than hold a hand, I could find my sister- but if she wasn’t here?

Worry that Kat wasn’t here or never was here circled my head until I was sick of it.

Instead, I placed Crim beside me and took out the TM case. At the sound of the zipper, Lia opened one eye.

“Lia, come here. Look at this.” I showed her the discs. “They’re TMs. If you use one, you learn a new move.”

Lia took the case, examining each TM carefully. Jacky too came over, but he seemed more interested in the case itself and burying into it.

I picked up the Thunder TM again. Even if Jacky himself wasn’t powerful, the TM might give him a boost. Thunder was one of the strongest electric attacks, and even if it was glitchy…

I thought back to the battle with the monster, and Lia before it.

It hadn’t been strength that beat the monster. Just smart thinking. Even if Jacky had Thunder, it wouldn’t have done much. I remembered what Kat said, one sunny afternoon when I asked her why trainers didn’t use some Pokemon.

“ _Training can make any Pokemon strong_ ,” she had said, “ _but you have to play to their strengths and weaknesses. A strategy doesn’t work with all Pokemon_.”

So if strength wasn’t good with a Dedenne, then what was?

Slowly, I put down the Thunder TM, and picked up Aerial Ace. I didn’t know if he could learn it, but if he was fast, he wouldn’t get hit as much. Then he could fight longer, or support Lia better.

A crinkling sound turned my head to Lia as she held the Psyshock TM to her forehead. A pink glow encircled her body and the TM flashed a hot white, before it faded and she put the TM back in the case beside Jacky.

“Psyshock’s powerful,” I told her, pleased at her choice. “It’s like psychic.”

She nodded, and I pulled Jacky from the TM case, his paws grasping at the sides and taking it with him.

I laughed. “Stop that. I got a TM for you.”

When I waved Aerial Ace in front of him, he let go of the case and made grabby hands at it. I pressed it against his head, and he helped hold it there as the sky blue glow transferred data from the disc to him. When it was done, he jumped away and stretched, going back to the Thunder Stone. I watched him to see if he moved faster or did anything strange, but eventually turned my eyes to Lia.

“Do you feel different?” I asked. She was examining her hands. “Kat said that you have to practice with TMs like any move. And maybe forget another move?”

That last part startled me and I glanced at Jacky, who was oblivious. I could trust Lia to choose what move to forget, if any, but Jacky would need to be trained. He knew four moves, Thunder Shock, Tail Whip, Charge, and Static Aura. I was sure Static Aura would be really cool once I knew what it did, so he needed to forget Tail Whip.

It did remind me of something.

“What type is Wave Blast?” I asked Lia, who looked up with confusion. “Your wave. Is it psychic or fighting- Oh, it’s fighting.”

She stopped nodding, then pointed at her mouth then her hand.

“The name? I’m calling it Wave Blast. I don’t know what it is.”

She pressed her finger into her palm.

“Hand Blast?”

Lia made the motion of the wave then pointed again.

“Wave Hand? Uh, Arm Thrust? Karate Chop? Aura Sphere-”

After five minutes, Lia gave up and retreated to her corner. I wasn’t disappointed. Wave Blast sounded pretty cool to me.

I yawned and cradled Crim, the soda just keeping my eyes open. I was never this tired when running around Towering Forest, but the mountain was something else.

Just before I went to sleep, I dug in my bag to see if I packed a blanket and forgot, but found Arthur’s journal.

“Oh no!”

Lia jumped to her feet, and I looked at her, holding up the book.

“I forgot to look for metal cutters!”

I pulled half-heartedly at the lock. It’d be forever before I found another town with tools in it.

When I looked up, Lia stood in front of me. She held out her hands, and I gave her the book. She turned it over, bracing her palm around the lock, then grabbed it with her other hand and yanked. A _click_ echoed against the cave walls, and she offered the book and broken lock back.

I pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you!”

As soon as I let go, she fled to the other side of the cave, looking embarrassed. I threw the lock aside, the cover barely damaged, but best of all, open. I placed Crim beside me.

I flipped over the cover.

Then a page.

Then a few more.

Ten minutes passed before I called, “Lia! Jacky! Come look.”

Lia and Jacky looked over my shoulder as I flipped through it again.

“There’s maps and pictures, and writing.”

No Pokemon could truly talk, they had other and better ways of communication, but psychic-types could learn to sign, draw, and read and write. Arthur sometimes signed, but otherwise kept away from human methods in something that Kat called “an Alakazam’s pride.”

I couldn’t see any pride here, everything hand drawn or written in black ink. What could only be maps showed locations and paths in places I didn’t know, some looking to be tunnels or maybe a city. The pictures were all terrible, and I couldn’t make sense of most of them- maybe some were maps, but it looked to be mostly figures or Pokemon. The writing was just as bad, but I could make out words and numbers. As I kept flipping through, it stopped making sense at all.

“It this… even the right language?” I said, and leaned back, trying not to guess words from squiggles. Even the numbers looked strange, like it was a different system or script.

The only thing I knew is that Arthur didn’t want anyone reading it.

And this was all that was left of him.

“He must have been embarrassed,” I whispered. “He didn’t want anyone knowing he was trying to write and draw.”

 _He should have told me, I could have helped_ …

“We should put this away.”

But when I attempted to close the cover, Lia stuck out a hand, pointing at a particular map. I looked at it again. This one seemed to be outside somewhere, and Lia’s finger tapped the top of it where there was a messy circle and a path leading south from it to other circles. I frowned, not seeing anything, but my eyes drew down to the bottom where I found crossed out lines, like Arthur had been trying to fill it up with color.

Black.

I inhaled.

“Lia. It’s the summit!”

It was the right shape, right path, and I looked at the pages around it, seeing tunnels or words and writing I still couldn’t understand. I went back to the map of the summit, and looked for where we were. It was hard, we went off path to get to this cave, and sometimes never found the path, but I finally pointed near the bottom with the void.

“This is where we are.”

But the path didn’t go into the void, like it would if you were going down the mountain. Instead it went sideways, above from where we were, into the mountain.

“A cave,” I said. “There’s something there. Maybe Kat’s there?”

I glanced out into the darkness, the rain still coming down. The buzz from the journal chased away all thoughts of sleep, but we wouldn’t find anything now. Ideas flowed into me, and I looked at Lia.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find this cave.”

She nodded once- and so the night went on.

I spent another hour over the journal, before I fell asleep into a restless doze. It was still dark when I woke up, but Lia sat in the corner meditating. I tried going back to sleep, but gave up after five minutes and read the journal until the gloom lightened, dawn pressing against the clouds.

When we left, not even the rain did anything to quench the fire that pushed me back up Mt. Ember. Every time I saw some dry spot, we’d run under it as I checked where we were and where we should be going.

But it wasn’t a task easily won. Every rock looked the same after a while, only the distance between the summit and the void orienting me. Arthur’s drawing wasn’t great and the entrance to the cave could be anywhere within fifty feet vertically, and moving five feet on the mountain was a challenge by itself.

No red eyes followed us now, but when I checked the map again, I looked to the smoke to see where we were- only to pause.

It looked closer.

 _Did we go too far down_? I thought we were up higher…

I pointed it out to Lia, and she jumped onto a rock, looking herself. Then grabbed my arm and pulled me further up the rocks. Behind us, hooves clattered on stone, but when I looked, nothing was there.

 _It’s a Ponyta_ , I told myself, but why would one live in rain and darkness?

Worse, why did I still hear it?

Lia and I made quick work as we searched, and I returned Jacky to his ball, not risking him running off. Our heads kept turning, and every time I tried convincing myself the smoke wasn’t coming closer, but never managed it.

By noon, the rain came down harder, and my mood was just as low.

“Where is it?” I yelled, my voice echoing off the rocks and down to where the smoke lingered, so close I could see it pulling itself across the stone. Drums echoed beyond it, or maybe that was just the rain; I felt the eyes all the same.

I pointed to the side of the mountain.

“It has to be here, right? There’s nowhere else!”

But of course there was. On the other side of the mountain. Below and above us. Anywhere, really.

But this wall, the smooth expanse of stone in a circle of pointed rocks looked to be the closest. Nothing was behind the rocks, no small opening or hidden door. Lia touched the wall, then pressed her palms against it. I copied her, groping for anything, before she pulled me back and raised her arm. The wave slapped against the wall, causing a small dent. The second made it slightly bigger, not at all the damage that would be done to a hidden door.

“What about Psyshock?” I said, and Lia frowned, putting a hand to her head. A glow circled her, and her eyes narrowed at the door.

The stone above the wall exploded in a hail of shrapnel and I covered my head as stones landed in front of the wall. Lia stood frozen, the first time I had seen her surprised.

“Were you aiming-” I cut myself off. It was a new move. “I don’t think that’d break the wall anyways.”

Psyshock destroying the rocks also destroyed our overhang, but I did my best as I curled around Arthur’s journal, studying the map and the words and numbers around it. I had already tried saying the words and numbers in different orders, but what else could open a cave?

I pressed my hand flat against the wall, looking up at it and squinting against the rain.

Lia cried out, and I spun around. The smoke bubbled under the rain, parting for bursts of black fire. A mouth snapped out of the smoke, pulled back by something I couldn’t see, and I backed up, backpack pressing against the wall.

“Lia-” I said.

The rumble bounced me off the wall, and I hit the ground, scrambling to my feet to see the wall behind me split apart. Rocks grinded against each other as they opened, revealing a doorway set against the side of the mountain.

I didn’t know why it opened.

I didn’t care.

From the smoke, I heard the distinct sound of drums.

“Let’s go!” I told Lia, who didn’t hesitate.

Together, we stepped into the tunnel.


	9. Chapter 9

The tunnel was dark. Daylight shone in over my head and terminated a few feet into it. I kept the journal in hand as I dug out my flashlight. It flickered, the beam weak and not going much further than the daylight.

Lia pressed against my leg, and I moved forward, stepping carefully. The ceiling was well above me, but the walls pressed near my shoulders, jagged and uncut.

Rock grinding was the only warning before daylight cut off. I looked behind us.

The door had closed.

My flashlight flickered again, and I put the journal away, struggling to find the opening of my bag. Lia made a quiet sound, and I took her hand, pointing the flashlight forward.

“It’s going to lead us somewhere,” I said, my voice echoing. “We’ll be okay.”

So we walked, and for a while the only thing existing was us and the flashlight. Every time it died or faded my heart jumped, and though our footsteps echoed, nothing else made a sound.

We were alone here.

Ten minutes in, I teetered and gasped, just barely catching myself. I pointed my flashlight down a staircase and couldn’t see an end. We descended. Soon we were past where the smoke would have been outside, and eventually passed it too. We walked down and down and down, past the base of the mountain and further down still, into the dark earth.

I didn’t know the time when the stairs ended. One moment they were there, the next I stumbled, my foot looking for a stair that wasn’t there.

“We done?” I said, breathing hard. I didn’t know going down the stairs could tire me, and I drank some water and gave the bottle to Lia. I heard her breathing too, but we went forward anyways.

Spots of color danced in the blackness, and I blinked as those colors solidified into flames to either side of us. They smoke, orange-bright, and my flashlight clicked out. More flames ignited farther down the path, marking the way, and I looked at Lia, her eyes similarly wide.

We walked hand-in-hand, following the passage. My skin prickled with warmth, the flames causing funny shapes behind my eyes, and wafting the soft smell of candle smoke. The flames stopped ahead at a doorway. Heat radiated from it, and I quickened my steps.

We passed through, and I stopped. My head turned this way and that, and yet-

We stood on a cliff overlooking a city of stone, spread out like a valley in structures and mazes. Flames burned at windows and roofs, and in alcoves scattered across the great walls of the underground city, leading up to the ceiling a hundred feet above me.

My mouth gaped. My voice was small.

“Where are we?”

We rested there on the cliffside for twenty minutes as we looked over the journal.

“This looks like this place,” I told Lia, showing her the map near to where the exterior one was. This map was even worse but it looked to be a city. I had read the words around the map before, even said them to try to open the door, but now they took on new meaning. I repeated them.

“Shrine. Strength, Ancient. Power. City. Shrine… Shrine of Power?”

I looked again at the city below us. I didn’t know what was down there, but between the fire and darkness was only stone. But every so often came a cry or a growl of a Pokemon, all unfamiliar.

I didn’t like it, so I cupped my hands to my mouth.

“Kat! Hello?”

Lia hit my leg and I made a sound. Her glare didn’t silence me.

“I’m just checking,” I said, but it was to no use. No reply came, not even a Pokemon noticing us.

Lia continued examining the map and then pointed to the destination on it.

“Yeah, it looks like it wants us to go to the bottom.”

And even if Kat wasn’t down there, this place was important. It had to have some clue, and I knew I’d find it at the bottom.

But to get there, I needed to make sacrifices.

Lia watched as I emptied my bag of anything I didn’t need. Most of the food, the soda, the stones- anything that could weigh me down. The entrance here was the only entrance, so I’d come back on the way up.

The only things I kept were Crim, enough food and water for a day, and the Poke Balls. They were very light, and _maybe_ there was a cool Pokemon here that wanted to be my friend. I was crossing my fingers. Jacky’s Ultra Ball I kept in the side pocket of my backpack for easy access. I’d send him out once it was safer.

“Much better,” I said, relaxing my shoulders underneath my bag. I smiled at Lia. “Okay! Let’s go.”

I found stairs on the side of the cliff, leading down to a lower overhang, still far above the city. It stretched across the entire east side of the cavern wall, and attached at the lip every few paces were metal stakes. Underneath each one hung a rope ladder.

The ladders varied in length, and I couldn’t see the bottom of the cavern through the torchlight, but eventually after walking across the overhang, I chose a ladder that seemed the longest.

Though each ladder had one common trait:

They were a long way down.

I swallowed, but gathered up my courage. “It looks pretty long. Lia, can you climb this?”

Lia frowned, and frowned harder when I got her settled on my shoulders, her legs hanging down on either side of my neck. She wasn’t that heavy, but I held my breath as I swung myself over the ledge, feet finding the first rung of the ladder. It swayed under me, not latched onto anything but the cliff beside me.

“Here we go,” I said faintly.

I started our descent.

I kept it slow, taking one rung at a time with as little movement as possible, but it didn’t seem to matter. The slightest motion pushed the ladder back and forth like a swing, and Lia’s hands were clenched against my hair. I didn’t look down, didn’t dare, and in the twenty minutes that passed, the only things I knew was the cliff high above, the wall a few feet in front, and the ladder dangling underneath.

But as soon as we passed below the cliff, I froze.

Underneath was a low overhang, containing nests of straw and dry grass, and in those nests, beady, angry eyes of colorful birds. One, bigger than me, flapped its blue wings and opened its reptilian mouth to show sharp, grated fangs. A second hissed, and a third followed the two out of the nests, their claws tapping against the stone.

Lia slapped my head, and I quickly found the next rung, the ladder swinging hard to the right, but all my attention returned to the birds as they perched at the edge. They hissed and spat, only seven feet from me- or would be if my ladder wouldn’t swing towards them.

On the next rung, my foot slipped off. I gasped, holding tight and squeezing my eyes shut.

Something brushed past my head and Lia cried out. I looked back at the birds to see one slam its tail into a rock that that missed me by a foot.

“I’m going!” I told them. “Stop!”

But the third held my gaze, eyes yellowing, and breath caught in my throat, legs stiffening.

Lia threw out an arm, a wave hitting the birds, who recoiled and hissed before coming back, long necks following me as the ladder swayed. The second bird inhaled and let loose a tongue of blue flame, bright in the cave light. I arched back, pulling the ladder into a spin, just missing it, but the first shot a second flame- down, hitting the ladder and breaking one of the ropes.

“No!”

The lopsided weight swung us closer to the birds, until Lia threw a wave at the remaining rope, cutting it free. The ladder underneath us fell, disappearing into the darkness between the flame lights, and seconds later I heard the crash.

The birds cawed and hissed, and I hugged the ladder, looking up and up and up to the cliff, but one of the birds followed my gaze up and fear jolted me. If it burned the ladder above me when I tried to climb up…

I swiveled my head, for anything, before spotting to the right another ladder. It didn’t look that far, and descended farther than mine had done.

“I don’t like this,” I said as I started to push the ladder back and forth, like a sideways swing. The birds kicked more rocks at me, one cutting my arm and another hitting my leg, sending the ladder off-course. _I need to get rid of them_. “Lia, Wave Blast!”

She sent a wave at the group, pushing us more off-course, but it did little to scatter them. _Psyshock_ was next on my tongue, but it might hit anywhere and I couldn’t risk it hitting the ladder. The ladder spun anyways, and it seemed no matter who attacked, I wouldn’t be able to drive it in the right direction.

 _Go up_ , I told myself, but the birds’s nest lined an underpass that stretched from wall to wall. No matter what ladder I took, they were here, and they wouldn’t let me climb up.

No. There was another way.

“Lia, we’re jumping to the ladder!” I shouted, as the ladder swung, slowing. “Use Wave Blast to the left! Now!”

She did, the wave propelling us hard to the right. Two of the birds left their position, following us down the path, kicking rocks whenever they found them. No more direction was needed; when we reached the right, not far enough, Lia shot in that direction, creating momentum. Like a pendulum, we rocked back and forth, and as we came back to the right, the third bird stopped near us, hissing and looking up to where the ladder attached to the cliff.

 _It’s going to shoot us_ , I thought, and the second thought followed just as dispassionately.

“Lia, behind us!”

She shot behind us, re-directing the ladder, and I held on tight as I threw out my legs, the bird directly in our path. I hit it feet first, feeling its body breaking against my shoes as I sent it flying off the path and into open air. It fell, tumbling down until last minute it opened its wings, gliding out of sight. The ladder slowed at its maximum height, swinging back the other way where the other birds watched us.

 _I’m not doing this again_.

“Psyshock!”

Lia inhaled, and the wall behind the birds exploded, sending rocks over the nests. The birds squawked, withdrawing as little red and blue heads appeared from the nests, crying. The force sent us spinning back, circling the air.

“To the ladder!”

Lia threw out her arm. Waves shot through the air behind and to the sides of us, re-directing us back towards the other ladder. As it got closer, I tensed, and near the highest height and speed, I let go. I flew in the air, my heart in my throat, and my fingers caught the ladder, pulling it with me as I pushed my feet against the ropes. I didn’t wait, I didn’t pause: even as the ladder moved, I climbed down as fast as possible, past the nests and the overhangs.

When my feet touched the ground, I fell backwards, head spinning. Lia unhooked herself from my shoulders, hands and feet pressing against the ground. My hands shook as I hugged my knees, and for a good five minutes, I couldn’t move at all.

Only when the reality that I wasn’t dead sunk in, did I look up. We made it to a roof, and I looked carefully over the edge. We were a good ten stories up, but this was one hundred times better than a rope ladder.

_Is the Shrine down there? Or whatever Arthur is leading us too?_

I helped Lia to her feet, releasing Jacky from his ball. He jumped on my shoulder and sniffed the air as I stumbled around the roof. No stairs, no emergency exit. Just a roof.

But close by was another roof, the space between them just wider than a sidewalk. “Can you do it?” I asked Lia, and our ladder trip must have scarred her for life, because she didn’t hesitate as she ran at the gap, leaping across in an aerial act that impressed me for such a small Pokemon. I stood back, and ran as fast as I could, crossing the gap and shoes skidding against the stone of the neighboring roof. Jacky clung to my neck then leapt off me, also having enough of my adventures.

This roof didn’t have any stairs either, and also had no other neighbors. We were trapped, and I looked around, then down. If there was a roof, there was something underneath it.

“Lia,” I said. “Could you use Psyshock on the roof?”

She rubbed her head, but raised her hand. The blast cracked the roof beside her, stone crumbling inwards. I stomped the rocks beside the hole, making it big enough for me to just squeeze through. I turned to Lia.

“That’s really good-”

But stopped. She held her head, eyes squeezed shut. I kneeled beside her.

“Are you okay? Do you need medicine?”

She shook her head, then stopped, like that hurt too. I bit my lip, not knowing how to help her. A Hyper Potion wouldn’t help with a headache, would it?

But one fact remained clear: Lia needed a break.

“Ride on my shoulders,” I said. “Or in my bag? If you want.”

Not even a headache could win my bag over, though, and once again, she took up residence on my shoulders. I carried Jacky in my hand before sliding him into my pocket, his weight pulling down the oversized shorts despite the drawstring. His nose peaked out.

“It’s up to us,” I told him. He squeaked.

I dipped my legs into the hole, hands on either side of the stone, and jumped in. I hit the ground feet first, Lia’s weight pushing me to my knees. Darkness closed in on either side, faint torchlight creeping down the hole, but not enough to light the room. No windows, and I felt the smooth stone of the floor.

Strange; people should live here, shouldn’t they? It was a city…

But even the cities I had seen these past few days were empty.

Maybe it was just the same here.

I stood up, and something moved. I froze, holding my breath. Little legs skittered somewhere in the room- No, lots of legs.

I inched to the side, foot and hand groping for anything: furniture, a weapon, a door. Mostly a door. My hand drifted to my flashlight, but I imagined turning it on into the face of a monster. I couldn’t break the moment, all I could do was slowly move.

My foot touched something warm, that jumped away from me. I closed my eyes for a moment, noticing myself freezing and then forced myself to keep moving. Jacky’s little paws clutched my shorts as he pulled himself out of my pocket and hung there.

Finally, my foot hit something that made a different sound. I felt around with my shoe. _Wood. This part of the floor is wood_.

A trapdoor?

In the corner, a flame ignited, and behind it, a flat, red face.

Jacky leapt off from me, cheeks sparking and a bolt of electricity arching towards it and lighting up the room. Red bugs covers the walls, flat and long with a millions of legs, already moving as the flame went out under the electricity.

I grabbed the trapdoor, finding an iron ring and yanking hard, throwing it open. Cries from hundred of voices heralded balls of fire, and I shouted as I jumped through the door and onto the next floor. Lia clutched my head, and Jacky landed in front of me, leading the way as we ran.

The bugs followed in a tide of skittering bodies as I ran down the faintly lit halls, towards the faint light. There at the end was a window marked with a bowl of fire. I climbed next to it onto the ledge of the window, looking once towards the ground before jumping.

The drop to the overhang was only four feet, but I kneeled there, heart pumping as the bugs looked into my eyes from the window sill. Jacky jumped up, sparking again as the closest bug hissed- but they retreated back into the dark.

I caught my breath and closed my eyes. When I found my voice, I said, “Lia, Jacky- are you alright?”

Jacky crawled down my arm, ears low and tail tense as his eyes remained over my shoulder at the window. Lia made a small sound, her head resting against mine.

 _We’ll be better once we reach the ground_. But the very fact that we weren’t done exhausted me. I looked over my ledge, past windows and overhands eight stories down to the ground.

Forget going inside.

If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was to climb.

And this was as good as a place as any.

Rocks jutted out of the walls, and my fingers tingled around them, throbbing the ladder ropes. I ignored it, digging them deeper to numb them, and slowly stepped off the overhang. No harness would contain me, no net would catch me. I looked down to the solid earth, my stomach dropping.

But not me.

“One at a time,” I whispered, feeling for the next rock. “One at a time…”

It wasn’t like climbing a tree, or the ladder, but it was the same strategy: slow and steady. On the sixth floor, my descent halted when I couldn’t find a way down, so I climbed sideways until I found a place large enough to hold my foot. Fear withdrew, still there, but quiet behind my concentration and the sweat dripping down my face. Lia murmured something, shifting, and I felt Jacky’s breath on my neck, completely silent.

On the fifth floor, a low hum caught my ear, almost like a very deep bell. Lia’s legs prevented me from turning my head so far, but I did my best, looking across the street.

A large, doll-like Pokemon floated outside a window. It was fat and brown with a circle of pink eyes around its head like a band, each one focused on me. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember its name or anything about it.

I looked away, continuing my climb down.

The hum continued, ringing my ears, my fingers trembling on the stone. Exhaustion burned up my arms and to my shoulders where Lia sat. Five stories. Just five more. One step at a time.

Beside me, the wall cracked. A small slice, no bigger than you would find on a normal house. The rock under my hands and feet vibrated, and the crack grew wider, stone chipping around it.

I hurried, thrusting my foot down to the next stone, but the crack followed, branching off into spiderwebs. The stone under my hand broke loose and I gasped, grabbing another as the stone fell past me.

“Go away!” I screamed at the Pokemon, because of course it was doing it. But it continued floating, watching. “Jacky! Thunder Shock!”

Jacky leapt onto my fingers and skipped to the next stone, his cheeks already charging. He cried out, electricity flashing across the street. The Pokemon didn’t flinch, but its head spun, and my mouth dropped open.

 _Is it a ground-type_?

“Lia!” I said, forcing myself to keep climbing down, even as the crack raced past me, sending dust flying over my head. _It’s going to collapse the wall_. “I need a Wave Blast!”

Lia stirred, sitting up. I saw the wave slice through the air, pushing the Pokemon back against the wall, but it floated off like a blimp and with not a scratch. Lightning flashed, Jacky jumping from rock to rock in quick, precise movements as he threw bolts across the gap. The Pokemon didn’t bother dodging; it didn’t move at all except to follow me down, widening the cracks under my footholds.

The wall shifted, and I coughed at the spray of dust, halting at the fourth floor. I gazed at that hard earth below, and it was too far to jump.

 _I have to get rid of it. I just need a moment_!

But if an attack wouldn’t work, and I didn’t have weapons, then what would…?

An idea came to me. “Lia,” I whispered, and she leaned her ear to me. I told her my plan, and she nodded against my hair, shifting back and pulling her legs up. I forced myself to look for the next foothold as her weight sent me off balance, but I felt her kneeling on my bag and shoulder, keeping her back against the Pokemon.

A stone tumbled past my head, shattering against the ground, and another followed. My foot broke another rock from the wall, and I closed my eyes, breathing in. Lia tapped my head, and I let that anger fill me.

“Jacky! When I say so-”

He looked down at me, cheeks glowing and a static filling the air.

It didn’t matter if it was a ground-type. It didn’t matter if it was strong.

It had a lot of eyes.

So.

Get rid of them.

“Thunder Shock!”

Lightning flashed, blinding the air, and Lia spun, arm pulling back and hurling the Ultra Ball from my bag. I heard it fly and open, sucking something in with a rush of energy that I hoped wiped the dumb curiosity from its face.

The cracks stopped, and I started again, knowing I only had a few moments. Blood pounded between my ears and I grabbed any stone I could, climbing down and down and down.

In twenty seconds, I made it to the second floor when I heard the Ultra Ball break.

The shockwave sent up the wall jolted me off.

I fell backwards in a sound of surprise, twisting around as Lia clung to my bag and threw out her arm. The waves slammed into the ground, three in a row, slowing me only a fraction before I landed on my arms and legs. I felt them bend, agony following a moment later and forcing a cry from my throat.

I laid there, in a pained, confused daze. Something grabbed my shirt, and I heard Lia say something. Her little hands dragged me up and I whimpered at the pressure against my right leg. My hair clung to my face and neck, and I took in a shuttering breath and forced my wet eyes open.

My arms looked darker and redder, my pinkie finger on my left hand bent strangely. I couldn’t feel it. My legs looked worse, but pain shot through my right. I touched it with my good hand, hissing. It didn’t look broken, but it felt broken.

I looked up.

The doll Pokemon watched me, but didn’t float closer. And around me, I saw other Pokemon, ones I didn’t know: black lizards slinking across the ground, purple bats with skull faces, a blue toy robot in the window, and others, Pokemon small and big and all strange. Some I did know: Geodude and Graveler watching down the street, a Pupitar hidden in the shadows of the wall, a green dragonfly Pokemon flying overhead that I knew evolved into Flygon. And more.

None approached.

When I dragged my legs underneath me, Lia held up her hands, trying to get me to stay down.

“No,” I told her. “We’re going.”

The pain almost changed my mind, but I wouldn’t let. Five minutes everyone watched me try to stand, and by the end, I stood upright, leaning heavily on my good leg. I didn’t know what was wrong with the other, but I’d have to live with it.

Jacky ran up to us, squeaking, and got between me and the doll, his cheeks charging.

“It’s okay,” I told Jacky, though it wasn’t, but I was very tired. “Come here. We’re leaving.”

He reluctantly left his post and stood at my feet, ears and tails alert. Lia waved for my attention, and motioned me to stay still as she disappeared into each building, the Pokemon parting for her. She came back with a stick, the wood gray and hard, almost like stone.

I took it and pressed it against the ground like a cane.

“This will do,” I said, and Lia grabbed my bag, lifting it easily. I didn’t argue, even though she must still be hurting too.

I looked at the doll and the other Pokemon.

“Stay away. We’re done with you.”

I turned, and we left.

Wherever Arthur’s journal was taking us, Kat was at the end.

If there was anything I knew, it was that.


	10. Chapter 10

Set in the cavern wall across from where we entered was a doorway. Arthur’s journal led us here, and I stopped before it. Flames marked each side, and etched above the doorway was a strange symbol. Like a heart placed on top of a wing.

 _This must be the Shrine_.

“Do you need medicine?” I asked Jacky and Lia. “Either of you?”

I didn’t know what laid past the doorway, but if it was another Pokemon, I didn’t know what I could do.

Jacky tilted his head, and Lia frowned, pointing at me.

“Pokemon medicine doesn’t work on me,” I replied. I had human medicine in my bag, but nothing that would help with my leg or finger. I still couldn’t feel the finger, but my leg throbbed, white hot agony every time I limped on it. My arm ached from where I gripped my stick, but resting was out of the question.

The Pokemon were ignoring us for now, but I didn’t know for how much longer.

Instead, I reminded them.

“If Jade or Ira are there, we need to get them first, before they use their Pokemon.”

It was the only strategy I could think of. Only really bad people attacked trainers rather than the Pokemon, but against them, I didn’t mind doing it.

“I’ll point them out. Kat looks like me, but she’s taller.” I looked at Jacky. “Start charging and use Static Aura.” I turned to Lia. “Don’t use Psyshock, but use Wave Blast.”

Lia pointed to her palm.

“Hand Blast?”

She sighed.

I divided up the rest of the food and water I brought amongst us, and then discarded the waste; I wasn’t bringing it with me. Lia refused to relinquish my bag, however, and I allowed it. She could just put it down.

“Alright.” I looked at the doorway. “Let’s go in.”

We passed underneath the stone.

Flames lined the tunnel, red like blood, but around them in dark, faded colors, were murals. For a moment, I forgot to be afraid.

Painted on the wall was a map of the Sevii Islands, but land connected each island, like a maze of land amongst water. The center held an island I had not seen before, crowned in gold and silver ink. Next lined stick figures of what could only be people: the red held weapons, the blue carried scrolls, and the yellow had their hands together in prayer. On either side of me came two scenes. The same people bowing to the ocean, and on the other side raising their hands to the sky. In each was a podium with bloody lines falling down it.

 _That’s not good_ , I thought, before I saw the next mural.

Armies of dark figures on ships and bird Pokemon chased the colored people, many on the ground with their arms and legs spread. But when I saw the next picture, only the red people were left, running into a cave with vague depictions of Pokemon. In the next scene and underground, the red people passing each other stone blocks, building something. _The city_.

But whatever happened next was unsaid because the tunnel ended.

I stepped into the cavern, glancing across the bare stone and high ceiling. On the far end was a cliff, with a tunnel to the side of it and a smaller one right beside us. I frowned, looking at Arthur’s journal, but I couldn’t see any directions for this place. All his instructions seemed to end here.

A crack froze me, and I looked over my shoulder as stone closed behind us, trapping us in the cavern. Lia shot a wave at it to no effect.

“What-” I said, but a grunt clicked my mouth shut. Slowly, I turned around.

Shuffling came from the tunnel in front of us, something heavy dragging.

I saw the spikes first, then the shell: a spiked golden shield outlined in red, but as it moved, the draconic gray head looked at me. It took a moment to realize Pokemon was walking backwards.

It snarled, smoke pouring from its nostrils.

“It’s a dragon,” I said, because what else could it be? I didn’t know what it did, and it looked very cool, but I didn’t want to be near it.

It banged its shell against the ground, still looking at me.

“Go,” I said, and limped into the smaller tunnel. The dragon roared, but it seemed as slow as me, and Jacky ran ahead, Lia staying by my side. I kept my ears peeled for another one of those things, but the tunnel circled around into another cavern, and here, I stopped.

A huge set of double-doors dwarfed the room, painted red with intricate gold and silver designs that arched over and into each other into a gorgeous display. Written in the middle was a script I didn’t know, but recognized.

Lia held up Arthur’s journal and I flipped through the pages with one hand, glancing at the door until I found the exact letters copied on page.

Underneath was a translation.

“ _Only the victorious may pass_ ,” I repeated. “So, we have to win…?”

No handle or knob adorned the door, and down the tunnel, a snarl echoed, but it didn’t seem to be coming closer.

The conclusion was clear.

“Arthur wanted us here,” I said to Jacky and Lia. “This must be the Shrine. We have to beat that dragon.”

It looked tough, and my Pokemon so small. But we would try. If Kat was behind that door, then I’d make it open.

Jacky rubbed his cheeks, which glowed brighter. Lia only nodded.

 _Strength_ , I said to myself as we followed the tunnel out of the cavern. _We’re not strong, but if I can be_ smart-

When the tunnel circled us back to the first cavern, _the stadium_ I knew now, the dragon had moved to a corner near the cliff, walling itself in with the shield facing us. Upon sight of us, it banged it’s shell against the ground. Lia placed my bag to the side and out of the way and only when she returned, did I gather my courage.

My voice came sharp.

“We’ll fight!”

A moment passed. Then the dragon nodded its head, and anticipation caused cold shivers up my arm.

“Okay, um, go!”

Lia threw a wave at the dragon, which only ducked its head, shell taking the damage, but in that case, it didn’t see Jacky, who raced to the side, cheeks sparking. The dragon’s head whipped in his direction, and breathed out a ball of fire. Jacky flickered to the side in a jump I didn’t know was possible, the flame passing him and burning out on the ground as he scampered back.

 _It’s defensive and maybe a fire-type_ , I decided, which was obvious, but grabbing any ideas was good.

Then the dragon inhaled and let loose a blast of fire.

I pushed myself away, falling down as the heat blasted and burned my back. The rope of fire hit the opposite wall in a spray of flame and heat, and I dragged myself away with my arms, grabbing my stick. I pulled at my shirt, shocked it wasn’t burned, and when the dragon closed its mouth, cutting off the flame with what looked like great effort, I still felt it. It had _missed_ , but-

In battle, a Pokemon could only take so much damage before passing out. This depended on the Pokemon and its opponent.

But I didn’t fool myself.

If we were hit once, we would die.

“Be careful!” I yelled at Jacky and Lia, but Jacky was already keeping away. Lia, meanwhile, watched the dragon with an unimpressed look. Her wave slammed into it, but the dragon didn’t raise its head again, and its shell turned silvery and glowed.

 _Oh no_! I opened my mouth but hesitated. Even if we could get one strong hit in before it got more defensive, the only thing that could do that was Psyshock. And that backlash-

A glow surrounded Lia, and I pushed myself to my feet, agony shooting up my leg.

“Don’t!” I shouted at her, pain cracking my voice. “ _Don’t_!”

She glanced at me, the glow fading. The dragon’s shell flashed silver, its spikes sharpened and hide shiny with power. It raised its head and roared, the only warning before it released another flamethrower.

I covered my head and fell to my knees again. Pain from my leg whitened my vision. _This isn’t working_.

What would Kat do? If she couldn’t use force, what would she do?

_Think. Think. I don’t have fairy moves, or water or ground, but what else? What’s its weakness?_

When the fire stopped, I looked at it for what felt like the first time. It had sat itself in the corner, walls surrounding it like a half-dome. Its kept its shell between it and us, the greatest defense, but also a clue.

 _It’s keeping its front protected_. Determination filled me.

“We’re turning it around!” I yelled at my Pokemon. The dragon looked at me, eyes narrowed. “Jacky, Static Aura! Lia, use Wave Blast!”

My mouth ran dry as static filled the air, but I was already on my feet, stumbling to my bag. I heard the wave hit the dragon, but didn’t look as I opened my bag and filled my pockets to the brim. That done, I grabbed a rock, and pushed myself across the stadium. The dragon shot a burst of fire at me, but not nearly as bright or big, and I ducked, leaning on my stick and breathing in the warm heat.

 _Was that on purpose_? But the dragon kept glancing at Jacky, and it clicked. _Static Aura did that_.

I circled the stadium to near the cliff, hesitating at the edge. Beyond it was no ladder or foothold, just a clear drop into an abyss. Vertigo dizzied me and I tore my eyes away.

I thew my rock, but the dragon kept its eyes on Lia, a green glow protecting it every few seconds, absorbing waves. The rock bounced off its shell, and I took a Dive Ball from my pocket, waiting for the green glow to fade before chucking it. It flew through the air, and the dragon slapped its shell again the ball before it opened, sending it flying off the cliff and down into the put. It snarled at me, shooting a short flame that didn’t come close.

“Jacky!”

In a blur of short, sharp movements, Jacky raced to the dragon, faster than I had ever seen him. He dodged under the flame and disappearing around the dragon, who ducked its head. Bright fire ignited behind the shield, and horror was second to the motion that drew back my arm and let the Ultra Ball fly.

It hit the dragon on the back and pulled it inside in red energy.

Jacky appeared in the resulting smoke. I pointed towards the entrance. “Push the ball this way!”

He slapped it with his tail, and Lia started to run as it shook once in mid-air before breaking. When the dragon materialized, it faced me head-on, revealing a white belly and a hole in its stomach.

It recoiled, belching out mouthfuls of fire, and I shielded my eyes, stepped back-

Agony collapsed me and I held my leg, tears coming to my eyes. Two Poke Balls rolled out of my pocket, and I chucked one blindly, trying to pull myself out of the line of fire, yet pain curled my thoughts into ash.

A hand grabbed my arm, and Lia made a sound, pulling my off the ground and away from the next blast of fire. I pushed two Poke Balls into her hands.

“Throw them!” I said through tears, and Lia hesitated, looking at them with an odd expression. Then her fingers closed around them, and she disappeared from my sight.

I heard the dragon roar, shaking my head loose.

 _Can’t lose here_ , came the whisper in my mind.

I grabbed an Ultra Ball, turning over to see, and my first went nowhere close, but I wasn’t alone. Jacky ran from one end of the cavern to the next, let loosing electricity that was followed by Lia’s Wave Blasts and the balls between them. The dragon couldn’t watch both of us, and as it batted away Lia’s last Poke Ball, I felt the Ultra Ball in my palm.

 _Go_.

I threw.

It hit the dragon, and its jaws snapped in my direction before it was pulled back in. The ball bounced towards me, and I pushed off with my good leg, grabbing the Ultra Ball. It shook once in my hand and I whipped it to the center of the stadium. It hit the ground at an angle and bounced towards the cliff, where it broke.

The dragon’s eyes opened, standing close to the edge and turned around enough to see the hole in its stomach, and in that second, Lia’s wave hit true.

The dragon cried out, pushed back and placing its arms over its hole, eyes squeezed shut. It stepped straight on the edge of the cliff- and teetered.

 _Wait_. I felt in freefall, but that wouldn’t be the final destination of the dragon.

 _If it falls, it’ll die_.

Jacky ran towards it, cheeks sparking.

“No, Jacky, stop!”

He skidded to a halt, looking back at me, and the dragon’s eyes snapped open.

It turned its head back and released a humongous flame that hit the opposing wall and pushed the dragon away, only inches but enough. It stepped away from the edge, and I watched it, hesitating and not knowing whether I should continue the battle, or-

The dragon met my eyes, then bowed its head.

“Um,” I said, and the dragon turned around, showing me its shield, then shuffled backwards towards the tunnel. Lia stood back, hand still raised, until I motioned her to put it down.

I found my stick and leaned on it to stand. It was a struggle, and by the time I caught up to the dragon, it was waiting by the grand doors.

“So I win?” I asked. Lia kept by my side carrying my bag, while Jacky’s cheeks still charged, standing between me and the dragon.

The dragon bowed its head again, and turned to the doors. It cried out, slamming its shield against the stone, and slowly, the doors opened. Beyond was a dark abode.

The dragon didn’t move.

“I guess we’re going in?” I said aloud.

 _If Kat’s in there_ -

I went in first, my Pokemon by my side.

I came atop a landing, overlooking a huge room. Violet smoke drifted up from the torches, lit by small flames smelling of rainwater, but the center torch was dark. On the wall, thousands of red figures bowed towards me, towards the center, and on that floor in silver lines was an etching of a bird. Its long neck and sharp wings arched, a dark mask over its eyes, and water surrounding it in dark pools.

 _Lugia_.

I pulled my eyes up, then further up. On the ceiling drawn in solid gold was another bird, wings spread and mouth opened in song, circled by a hail of clouds.

 _Ho-Oh_.

Lia gave me back my bag as she supposed me down the flight of stairs. When my foot hit the bottom, the center torch erupted in golden flame, circling into the other torches in a row so bright I shut my eyes. When I managed to open against the glare, Lugia was dark, and Ho-Oh shone above me in rainbow light.

 _This is the Shrine of Power_?

I put down my bag, my hand tight around my stick. I glanced behind me but the dragon wasn’t there.

“What do we do?” I whispered to Lia, who looked just as uncertain.

I brought my eyes back to the center torch. The flame reached nearly as high as Ho-Oh and I felt the heat so far away. _Sacred fire_.

It was said Ho-Oh burned the unworthy and turned their souls to ash.

And as I looked at the fire I had no doubt it was true.

A bell rang. Another bell joined it, then another, then a fourth. They echoed throughout the cavern, a church chorus coming from nowhere but everywhere at the same time.

The center torched weakened, lowering and dimming until it died, leaving only trails of smoke.

Jacky ran towards it, sniffing, and I followed, Lia at my heels. By the time I got to the torch, it was cold, or maybe it had always been cold. I touched the bronze rim, and looked inside. Something glinted at the bottom, and I pointed.

“Jacky, can you get that?”

He jumped inside, and his paws skidded on the side as he struggled to get back out, finally flickering up in a precisely-timed step.

I took the crystal from his mouth and turned it over. It looked to be half a golden wing, its top edge curled into itself. It was still warm and something was in it. It tugged at my mind, building into an idea or a realization, the answer to a question I didn’t know.

Then it faded.

“I…” I closed my good fingers around it, but I didn’t know what to say, and a trickle of annoyed filled the void. It was like a sneeze cancelling itself.

I looked back at the shrine and the way I came in. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere else to go.

Kat wasn’t here.

“This was a waste of time,” I said aloud, and though it felt bad to say that when this was a Shrine of some sort, if it didn’t have my sister, then what use was it?

Lia grabbed my bag as we exited, and exhaustion pulled at my shoulders and my leg. My arm spammed from holding the stick, and there was no way I could climb back out of the city.

But when we came to the doors of the Shrine, the dragon wasn’t alone.

“A Chansey?” I said, and it waved. I had never seen one outside a Pokemon Center, and it looked tiny next to the dragon. The dragon snorted, its injuries gone. Hope blossomed. “Can you heal us?”

That was a yes, because next thing I knew, I was sitting down while the Chansey examined my leg. It ran its hands down it and then took my hand and bent my finger painlessly back into place. Finally it patted my shoulders, and relief poured down into my arms like water.

“Thanks,” I told it, and it nodded at me, before tending to Lia, who looked embarrassed to be there, and Jacky who jumped into its hands and then right back out.

I stood up, putting pressure on my leg, then jumped. No pain.

The dragon watched me, and now that the battle was over, I could properly see it was a very cool Pokemon. _A spiky turtle dragon_.

“Thanks for doing that,” I said to the dragon. “You didn’t have to. Thank you. Um. Have you seen other people?”

It nodded, and my hopes rose.

“Like, a girl, or three girls? One looks like me. They would also have Pokemon. Like an Altaria- uh, a cloud bird, and a big red fire bug, and a metal soldier-”

It nodded again.

“ _When_?”

The dragon stared at me. I stared back, and elaborated.

“Today?”

Shake.

“Yesterday?”

Shake.

“Day before yesterday?”

Nod.

 _That’s when me, Lia, and Jacky fought that sludge monster_.

“Do you know where they went?”

The dragon shook its head, but I wasn’t perturbed.

Arthur’s journal led me here, so he would lead me to wherever they went.

“Then do you know if there’s another way out of here?”

The dragon led us down tunnels and endless caverns, slow but better than going through the city. My leg didn’t hurt at all and I flexed my hand, my bag and Crim safety on my shoulders. It stopped at a dead end, and behind us came cries of Pokemon. I flinched, Lia raising a hand, but the purple bats only dropped items in front of me: the items I left at the entrance.

Not all of them, I realized after packing them away. Some of the food was gone. _My chips_ …

I wasn’t mad, though. Not after all this.

The dragon tapped the wall, which opened, faint light escaping into our flame-bright tunnel.

It was night, the ocean dark from the cliffside. Ocean breeze hit my face, salt strong on the wind, and I breathed it in before turning once more to the dragon.

“Bye,” I said, “and thanks again!”

It nodded, and retreated, the cave closing up behind it.

It was too late to find out way, so we camped at the cliff that night, the summer warm but the wind strong. It slapped the pages of Arthur’s journal as I read, the light of the Fire Stone flickering beside me. By morning, I had read more than slept, but the future set out before me.

“There’s another shrine,” I said to Lia when she came out of her meditation. Jacky slept on a patch of grass, chest rising slowly. “Shrine’s written right here, and look at the drawing-” I showed her the pages, and compared it to my map of the Sevii Islands. “Four Island. That’s obviously the island and the town. They must have taken Kat there.”

Lia frowned, and pointed to the ocean.

“We don’t have Sora,” I said, “but I’m sure we can think of something.”

Abandoned beach houses scattered on the shore and base of Mt. Ember with private docks, and after dawn broke, it only took an hour to find an in-tact boat locked inside a boathouse. Lia broke the locks, and I checked the boat out for leaks or anything not sea-worthy. When I pressed the button on the motor, it came alive with a roar. When I raised my head, it was with a smile.

“It’s good! We can take this.”

Lia looked doubtful.

“Four Island isn’t _that_ far. It’s the same distance from here to One Island. We flew that, it wasn’t long.”

Now Lia looked concerned, and exasperation won me over.

“There’s no other way off the island, and we have to go fast. Otherwise they’ll take Kat somewhere else! It’ll be fine. Trust me. We have a motor. We have food and we’ll be there two days, tops.”

So as morning brightened, the boat swept us out of the boathouse and into the open ocean. I had so many things to think about, but for now I closed my eyes against the breeze and ocean air. Jacky laid on the bottom of the boat, nuzzling his Thunder Stone; Lia sat straight up beside me, arms tense; and Crim sat on my lap, my hand brushing its scales.

Mt. Ember got smaller behind us, and up the mountain, the black smoke hung, and on top the endless rain of the summit. Inside, the lost city had become a little less lost, the Shrine dark and closed off until the next challenger came. It’d be a long time, but how did I know? There was a whole world out there I hadn’t seen, with people still living.

 _Apparently_.

I pulled the gold stone from my pocket. It shone yellow in the sun.

I didn’t know what it was, but maybe I’d find out.

Later, though.

Now, we would sail.

To Four Island and to find my sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, I may take a week off. I'm a bit behind on my chapters since the next bunch are complicated. If I don't post Friday, expect the next update the Tuesday after.


	11. Chapter 11

“Well,” I said as we surrounded the quiet and motionless motor. Our boat rocked gently in the waves, drifting in whatever direction it chose in this wide, open ocean. “This is bad.”

It started off well.

Most things did, but this time felt different. Arthur’s journal pointed across the sea, to Four Island and another Shrine, mystical places I had never heard of. Whatever Jade and Ira wanted with them didn’t matter, but they took Kat and Kat would be with them. When I beat the Shrine of Power, got the gold crystal, and Arthur’s journal had told me what to do next, it felt _right_. Fated. An adventure easy to walk, with the destinations marked off and circled.

Five hours after leaving One Island, the boat’s motor died. The afternoon sun beamed hot against the back of my neck as I kneeled over it, filling it with gas, but it only sputtered. Lia’s store employee experience didn’t give her any knowledge of motors or boats, and I touched every part of the motor, looking for-

Anything, really. A button. A panel or tray. Wires I could jiggle?

The motor wouldn’t start, and I chucked the gas canister into the water. It bobbed, a green plastic thing leaking gas, and commercials of littering and the state of the world’s oceans flashed before my eyes.

“We have to row,” I said, turning my head to what I hoped was south, towards Four Island. I couldn’t see it, and One Island was just a speck behind us. Surely we were nearly half-way there. It’d be slower rowing, but by this time tomorrow evening we should make it.

Lia picked up the oars I had made sure to bring, and I showed her how to position them, or at least copied what cartoons showed. It didn’t matter; even as Lia pumped her arms, hitting the oars against the water, a wave pushed us sideways.

“Stop!” I hissed at the water. Jacky frowned at me, ears flapping in the wind, and I held onto my sunhat as I turned to Lia. “There’s a trick to it. We just need to figure it out.”

The trick turned out to be this:

We needed a different boat.

Even when Lia found the correct way to row, her strength pushing the boat along, the oars constantly slid across the rim of the boat and out of position. In the minute it took to re-position them, the waves pushed us off-course and in a different direction, so we had to turn around. Only after an hour did I recall that most rowboats in cartoons had hooks for the oars to be slid into to keep them in the right position. I tired to hold the oars down as a substitute, to no effect. I would never have the strength to row the boat myself, and even with Lia’s power, all the hour amounted to was a dead end.

I wiped sweat from my brow, the sun high in that cloudless sky. Lia pressed the oars against the water again, and I watched her before pulling the gold crystal from my pocket.

It sparkled, and I squinted against the glare.

 _Give me something_ , I begged it. _Do something_.

It did nothing but bask in a very pretty way.

I closed my fingers around it before I threw it into the ocean.

Motoring to Four Island? Dead.

Rowing to Four Island? Useless.

Giving up and dying? Unacceptable.

 _We need a tow_.

“Stop, Lia,” I said, grabbing my bag. “I have another idea.”

We had enough food for three or four days, with liquids for four, but my true objective laid at the bottom of the bag. I gathered them all and dropped them beside Crim at my feet.

The Poke Balls glinted.

“We’re catching a Pokemon.”

Lia pulled the oars into the boat, and Jacky jumped onto my shoulder to escape the spray. I counted the balls.

“Six Poke Balls, one Dive Ball, and one Ultra Ball.”

 _Eight chances_. But this was no forest. I glanced at the empty, sparkling currents.

“We have to lure a Pokemon from the boat,” I said, “and make sure it doesn’t run away. That’s going to be tricky.”

At Lia stare, I elaborated.

“You need bait to fish a Pokemon. We don’t have anything but chips, candy, and protein bars. I don’t think any fish want candy.”

But maybe the sugar? That was an idea, but what to use for a rod?.

As an experiment, I took a sugar-coated candy from our food supplies, leaned over the boat, and stuck my arm in the water.

Lia grabbed my shirt, and I turned my head.

“We need _something_! Lia, we might die.”

That struck my head like a bell, and my hand loosened, the candy slipping through my fingers. I looked down at the lapping water, cool around my arm and in my shadow. Below that was darkness, hiding everything and all, and going down forever.

 _We might actually die_.

I pulled my arm back, sitting in my seat, and looked at Lia and Jacky. Lia wore the shirt I found in the boathouse like a hood, her arms tight against her sides to remain in her own shadow. Jacky’s whiskers twitched, eyes big and trusting as he met my gaze.

If I died, they would too.

I held my arms. It didn’t help the shaking or the sickness that rose against my throat, but I closed my eyes, breathing deep. I expected tears, but to my relief, they didn’t come. I didn’t like being a crybaby. It didn’t help, and it never would.

I had to be strong.

Everyone was relying on me.

“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “We’ll catch a water-type, and then it’ll help us. I’m a trainer; I can do it.”

But as the sun wheeled across the sky, sinking as the air cooled and night pushed across the horizon, no Pokemon came.

The candies didn’t work, neither did the chips, or yelling, or searching the water for anything curious to pop up. At one point I nearly jumped off the boat, but Lia wouldn’t let me. After the impulse faded, I could see why. Once I got out of the boat, there was no way I could get back in without tipping it over.

“Maybe more will come out at night,” I whispered as Jacky fell asleep in the corner of the boat. Lia merely considered me for a long moment before choosing to meditate with her back turned.

When night fell, I couldn’t even read, not daring to ignite the Fire Stone on the boat. For half-hour I pointed my flashlight at the waves, using whatever battery it had left. Black water tumbled under the flickering light and at every turn I expected to see something awful push its face from the water.

I turned off the light after that, but it wasn’t truly dark.

Stars scattered across the velvet night, bright with galaxies and far off worlds. I watched them as the waves pushed our little boat further out, farther than anyone could find us.

I must have slept because when I blinked next, dawn hadn’t yet broke, just a sliver of gold pushing against the horizon

I made my decision.

“This might be a while,” I said to Lia, when she left meditation at my call. “The food and water needs to last a long time. Did Joe give you a Poke Ball?”

She shook her head, tense.

“You don’t need to eat or drink in a Poke Ball. It’ll give you energy until it loses power. For new Poke Balls, I think it’s a few days. Once I catch a water-type, I’ll let you out and I’ll break the Poke Ball.”

Lia’s shoulders hunched, and it broke my heart.

“Please, Lia,” I said, my voice cracking. “ _Please_? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It won’t be for long, I promise.”

Her eyes rose to meet mine. After a moment, the longest moment, she gave a tiny nod.

Relief filled me.

“Thank you.”

I offered her the Poke Ball, and she hesitated before pressing her hand against it. It opened, turning her into red light that it sucked inside and snapped closed. It shook three times and clicked.

I put the ball into my bag, and scratched Jacky’s sleeping head before returning him to the Ultra Ball, placing it beside Lia’s.

If… If I never found a Pokemon, and I never used the other balls, Lia and Jacky could take turns in them. They could break their original balls and jump from ball to ball, using their energy to give them more time. If each ball was three days, and I had seven left, and Lia and Jacky used three each, that was an extra nine days for them. Time for the boat to wash up somewhere, or a passing ship to find it, even though they probably didn’t exist anymore.

It wouldn’t matter for me.

I’d be dead.

I buried my face into my arms.

 _Be strong. Get a Pokemon. Save Kat_.

As the rays of the sun shone across the sky, I picked up Crim, brushing his scales.

“Just you and me, now. Let’s catch a Pokemon together.”

I laid out my equipment: the seven balls, the food I had left, Arthur’s journal, and the Pokedex. Not that the Pokedex would be of use because it was broken, but maybe if I wished hard enough, it would come alive and be helpful.

I had lived by the ocean all my life, first in Pallet Town, then in Towering Forest, but I rarely saw the Pokemon in there. Just whenever they came up the river. Still, I knew of them, and I sorted them into categories.

In the open ocean on the surface, I wouldn’t see Pokemon like Krabby, Chinchou, Horsea, or Staryu. Magikarp didn’t like being out so far, and Gyarados were rare. Tentacool sometimes came to the surface, but if I caught one, would it be able to tow us? I couldn’t even surf with it, not if it was a poison-type.

I’d take anything, really, but the best Pokemon would be a Wailmer or a Wartortle. They were friendly, and Wailmer always approached people in boats. Wartortle didn’t do that, but they knew humans; they sought out humans to be battling partners and maybe one would want me. Not like there were other humans out there.

But to lure one in?

 _Maybe_ , I thought, _I can create a chain. Catch a smaller water-type and use_ that _as bait_ …

But I hated the idea. It was gross. I could do better than that.

“We’re catching a Wailmer,” I said to Crim. It didn’t respond, but that was okay. “If I make noise, maybe they’ll hear me.”

So I made noise. I shouted and screamed until my throat went hoarse. When that did nothing, I tried using my food again until the waste made me stop. Then I shouted more. I looked closely at the water. I saw shapes in the waves that turned out to be nothing. I wished. I hoped.

The morning passed like this.

A thing about the summers in the Sevii Islands, nee the Vaeli Region:

They were hot, bright, and beautiful, starting in April and heating up through the year before they cooled in September. Following that was mild, windy winters, nothing like Pallet Town, but most of the year, the sky was clear and cloudless, rain a dream from somewhere else.

Today was boiling.

I huddled in my own shadow, my sunhat casting down barely a smidge in cool temperature, yet I clung to it. Ocean sprayed into the boat, hitting my face and then steaming away in minutes. The sun remained relentless, burning my bare arms and legs dark. My skin was too brown to burn, yet no one could tan in this day, and I cradled Crim on my lap, not trusting him to bear the sun.

It shouldn’t matter. As soon as I left Mt. Ember, it was obvious Crim was the egg of a turtle dragon. Kat and Arthur had been to the Shrine of Power before, and that’s where she must have gotten the egg. Crim was a dragon and red, and so was the turtle dragon. And the turtle dragon was very cool. I really liked it, even if I didn’t know its name.

Yet, I kept Crim close.

Even though I had a Pokemon, two currently since Lia was looking for her boss, Crim was my real starter. And as I sat there in the boat, rocking against the waves, I hoped it would hatch soon. I had been carrying it for a while. Even if it was a powerful dragon, surely it would need to come out sometime.

I had planned to spend the morning working hard, but the sun left me in a daze, so I sat in the boat and watched the waves. If nothing else, the weather kept them calm, not the torrent that would capsize us at any other time of the year. The smell of the sea enveloped me, salt against my tongue, drying my throat every time I swallowed. Once I thought I saw something moving through the water, but my shout didn’t catch it’s attention, if it was anything at all.

The sun was directly overhead when I heard the beep.

I flinched, looking around to empty water before glancing at the bottom of the boat. Laying there was Kat’s gold Pokedex, it’s screen lit.

“Yes!” I whispered, picking it up. I turned it around in my hands to figure out how it came on before I found the battery power flashing the corner of the screen. Next to it was a sun. “Oh. Solar powered…”

I scrolled through the options, getting used to the buttons. Pokedex came in different types, and the only ones I ever saw were the basic, store-bought ones in Viridian City. Those were only dictionaries, and this was a true Pokedex.

I switched on the scanner and pointed it at Crim.

“ _Unknown object_ ,” the Pokedex said in a monotone female voice.

I turned it to one of the balls.

“ _Dive Ball. A Poke Ball best used on Pokemon found in the water and while diving; these Poke Balls are designed to sink. Price in the Kanto region: $1000. Subject status: empty; registered to Trainer Katarina Carter._ ”

“Cool,” I said, and pointed it to Jacky’s Ultra Ball.

“ _Ultra Ball. A Poke Ball with a high-performance capture rate. Price in the Kanto region: $1200. Subject status: in use; contains an unknown Pokemon registered to Trainer Katarina Carter.”_

“What? No, he’s mine!” I tapped the Pokedex, trying to find a way to update that information, but I got distracted when I found the Pokemon database. It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for.

“ _Turtonator, the blast turtle Pokemon. A fire and dragon-type found in Aloha region. The shell on its back is chemically unstable and explodes violently if struck. The hole in its stomach is its weak point_.”

“That’s what you are!” I said to Crim, and then I found Lia and Jacky’s Pokedex profiles. I scrolled. “That attack’s called Force Palm… Wave Blast sounds cooler. What about Static Aura?” It took longer to find that. Dedenne didn’t learn it naturally. “Eerie Impulse?”

It did what I expected it to do. I liked the name.

As I tried going back to the main screen, I hit a button.

“ _User location unknown… searching_ …” A beep. “ _Error: the database is down_.”

“No, come on! Don’t do that!”

It continued doing that.

I frowned until an idea came to me. I could look up the Pokemon I was hunting for… not that it mattered, as I found out. Wailmer ate small fish, and so did Wartortle. But though the Pokedex didn’t know my location, I could look up where I thought I was and see what other Pokemon lived here. Some were Pokemon I hadn’t heard of, and the encounter rate on Tentacool was annoyingly high, especially since I hadn’t seen one.

But this was good. Something was going right.

My mood remained high until an hour had passed and reality pulled it back down like waves dragging me under.

A Pokedex wouldn’t get me a Pokemon.

And throughout it all, the sun burned bright until night wheeled across the sky. I slept poorly, dreams and worries of the boat drifting further and further away. So lost that I would never see land again. Just the endless water going on forever.

I had hoped it’d be cooler the next day, but it felt _hotter_.

I promised Lia and Jacky we would be at Four Island in two days. It was now day three, and we must have been further than we started.

My arms and legs ached, throbbing even when I pulled them out of the sun and into the shade of my sunhat. My attention drifted, and I zipped all the water and food into my bag, to stop myself from drinking and eating it all. My stomach growled hard, but I was used to being hungry. My throat hurt worse. That I wasn’t used to, but I had to make my supplies last as long as possible.

It’s why I pulled out Arthur’s journal. Lia had pulled out the lock but a jagged edge still remained stuck to the cover.

Careful not to stain the pages, I stabbed the edge into my wrist. I was weak, the first jab merely a scratch, but I dug into it until blood welled up and dripped down my arm. I made the cut nice and big before putting the journal down and holding my wrist above the water.

I wasn’t tall enough to submerge it, but Carvanha came at the scent of blood. It’d want a piece of me, but I also wanted a piece of it.

Blood dripped into the ocean, but faded as soon as it touched the surface, the waves breaking it apart. It was a lot less blood than I had imagined.

“Come on!” I hissed. Sweat dripped down my face.

When the blood stopped, I pulled my arm back. I watched the water, but I didn’t know why.

Nothing was here.

I kept my wrist on my lap, not bothering to bandage it.

I was going to die anyways. Wasn’t I?

My mind drifted in that summer daze.

Maybe Crim wasn’t a Turtonator, but a Latias, like I had originally thought when Kat gave it to me. Maybe it would hatch when I needed it most, like now.

_“You’re so big,” I said to Crim as it stretched, pretty doe eyes scanning the water. As soon as it hatched, it grew larger than me, fueled by its psychic powers. “Can you get us out of here?”_

_I got on my Latias, and it flew me to Four Island, where I found Jade and Ira, with Kat beat up and tied to a tree. I pointed and yelled, and Crim used Psychic to defeat Jade and Ira, and their Pokemon. I untied Kat and got her on Crim as we flew out of there. Back on Three Island, Kat looked at me in amazement._

_“I didn’t think it would hatch,” she said, “only a special trainer could do it.”_

_“I always said I could do it,” I replied. Jacky sat on Crim’s head while Lia was impressed with me, like seeing me for the first time. I knew she would be more so once I found her boss._

_Our voices must have carried, because just then, Hunter came out of the trees, limping. Kat began to cry, so happy, and Kat and I gave Hunter a big hug. Later, we found out he had been left for dead and when he couldn’t find us, spent the time recovering._

_“Let’s find Lia’s boss and then go to Pallet Town,” I said. “We’ll explore the world.”_

_It’d be a short trip for Lia, because by the time we found Lia’s boss, she decided she wanted to come with me, and so after that-_

The boat rocked hard, and I held on until the waves calmed. My daydream slipped from my fingers, but it was so childish. Crim wasn’t a Latias.

And Hunter was dead.

I blinked back tears. I hadn’t thought about him much, not when I had to find Kat. Could he have survived? I didn’t see his body, but I was on Three Island for days and he never showed up. He always came when I called. He never let me out of his sight…

 _He’s dead. Stop lying to yourself_.

I closed my eyes.

A splash opened them.

Feet away from a boat, a pink face watched me.

Anticipation dripped down my back as the heat pulled away, and I put down Crim and grabbed the side of the boat. It looked like a pink bubble with a cute, smiling face like a human might have. I had seen it’s picture before from the Pokedex.

“Frillish,” I said, and it blinked, its smile steady. I couldn’t remember anything else about it. “Um-”

It pulled its head back under the surface, and my heart sank.

Another splash turned my head. The Frillish watched me from the other side of the boat, closer now. Frills circled its neck, a crown sat atop its head. It purred, audible over the waves.

“Hi!” I exclaimed. “Could- can you come closer?”

It didn’t, but didn’t leave either.

_Should I send out Jacky or Lia to weaken it?_

No. Releasing them would scare it, and the attacks would make it run.

_Just me, then._

“You’re really pink,” I told. It seemed to giggle. “You’re cute, and- um, do you want food?”

Slowly, I pulled my bag closer and took out a sugar-coated candy. The Frillish blinked, and after I held it out for a few seconds with no movement, I took a risk and tossed it. It disappeared under a wave, and so did the Frillish.

After a moment, it came back up a foot closer. Not near enough to touch it, but maybe if I threw a Poke Ball- but that was a big risk. I would only have one chance.

I grabbed another candy to lure it more, but it hit the waves with its arms, translucent pink flaps. I watched it, and it did it again, looking at me.

“Um-”

It sunk in the water, then back up, and looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, do you want me to come in the water?”

It splashed its arms, smiling.

“I can’t,” I told it. “I won’t be able to get back into the boat.”

But… I could get in reaching distance and then catch it. It couldn’t be _that_ hard to get back into the boat. The Frillish could help me.

“Do you want more candy?”

I tossed the candy, but it didn’t follow it, so my hand froze on my bag, the Poke Balls just underneath. My eyes dropped to the ocean between us, but I didn’t know why. In the back of my mind, I thought, _Did I just see something?_

The Frillish splashed, and I made a decision.

If I didn’t catch the Frillish, I would die.

So I smiled, grabbing the ball at the top of my bag, though I didn’t know what type.

“Okay. I’ll come in.”

The Frillish smiled wider and drifted towards me. I held up the bag of candies with my free hand.

“We can eat together. You’re really pretty.”

But the problem with getting out of the boat was that I didn’t know how.

If I leaned over the rim of the boat too much, it would tilt, and I spent a good minute trying to find a way to get out without overturning the boat.

An idea came to me.

“Can you help?” I said to the Frillish. It floated five feet away, but at my request, came even closer. It was cuter up close, with a winged eyelash under its eyes. _Like a princess_.

When it came right beside the boat, I outstretched my arm.

“Pull me.”

And as its wet, paper-thin arms wrapped around my wrist, I hit its head with the ball. The Ultra Ball opened sharply, and then slipped from my wet fingers.

“No!”

It hit the water with a splash, shaking as a wave pushed it away. I watched in horror. _Please break out, please break out…_

But as it drifted further away, the ball remained closed.

I frantically looked over the rim of the boat. I needed to get in the water and get that Frillish.

 _Just jump_!

“This is bad,” I said as I stood on top of one of the seats, and as a wave dipped my boat, I jumped. I hat lifted off my head as I cleared the rim and hit the water on my side. I pumped my legs, my face breaking the surface, and I immediately lost where the ball had gone.

In those two seconds, the boat drifted ten feet from me. Then fifteen.

I swam to where I thought the ball went, the waves pushing me to the side and under. My shoes dragged me down, but I just had to swim. A wave leapt over my head, and I took a breath before I went under, the salt stinging my eyes. Water flowed down and around me, and I glanced under the surface to see if I could find the ball.

Only then did I realize I was surrounded.

Blue and pink Frillish swam under me, a school of ghostly shapes, smiling and frowning like theatre masks and all eyes on me. A couple drifted up like balloons, and I kicked away, pushing my head above the water to get air.

Tendrils wrapped around my leg and yanked me under.

I kicked and stomped with my foot, but the Frillish’s arm was long, its head out of reach, as it dragged me further down. The other Frillish floated around me, their strange laughter echoing in my ears as my heart beat louder and louder. My lungs burned, air running out, and I twisted to no avail.

_No! It can’t do this! I can’t-_

With the rest of my strength, I pushed myself _down_ , and I dropped through the water, the arms going slack as I caught up to it. I hit the Frillish’s head with my shoe, and it let go, but as I looked up, the light of the day and that burning sun dimmed under the swarm of Frillish above me.

My vision blackened.

_Kat-_

A blast of water swept me to the side, and I couldn’t see or hear anything, just the vague sensation of something under me, rising, rising-

I broke the surface and gasped in air. I coughed, the breaths hurting in a way that I had never felt but was so, so nice. I shook, and I breathed.

Only then did I see the blue platform under me. Water sprayed from a hole, the droplets hitting my head like rain, and around me came more Pokemon, a pack of them.

 _Wailmer_.

I cried.

It had been a long day.

The Wailmer brought me back to the boat. My throat hurt a lot, but I forced words through it.

“Thank- thank you…”

When I climbed back onto my boat, I looked at them again. I didn’t know why they saved me, maybe because I needed help, but I wanted one more rescue.

“Could-“ I coughed. “Could you take me to Four Island?”

I didn’t know if they understood. I didn’t know if they knew where that was.

But as the Wailmer pushed my boat, swimming in a direction that looked the same to all the others, I didn’t care.

Wherever they took me, I would go.

I was done with the ocean.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Welcome to my fun adventure story!
> 
> Disclaimers:
> 
> 1\. I'll be updating every Tuesday and Friday with a 3k to 5k chapter. I currently have chapters two and three ready to go, and I'll be keeping a three chapter buffer. Next chapter will be posted on June 30, 2020.
> 
> 2\. This story is set for twenty-eight chapters, maybe one or two less.
> 
> 3\. Every Pokemon's move pool is taken from generation seven to be consistent, as there are many Pokemon not in generation eight. Native generation eight Pokemon, attacks, and various items and gimmicks still exist, however.
> 
> 4\. I reserve the right to alter Pokemon sizes, because some are stupidly small.


End file.
